Sanford's Soccer Net: 2009-11-22

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Amy Lawrence: Europe's young managers show what they can do – everywhere but here

The Champions League is full of recently retired players excelling in management. None of them works in England.

UEFA Champions League: Team of the Week

Goal.com runs through the best in show from matchday 5 of the Champions League...

Rustu

Alves Pique Sharonov Tremoulinas

Hleb Fabregas Cisse Krasic Pedro

Chamakh

UEFA Champions League: Wednesday Reports

Manchester United 0 - 1 Besiktas
United left with work to do
United's kids not quite ready

Bayern Munich 1 - 0 Maccabi Haifa
Olic gives Bayern hope

Bordeaux 2 - 0 Juventus
Chamakh seals top spot

AC Milan 1 - 1 Marseille
Lucho denies Milan

Porto 0 - 1 Chelsea
Anelka swoops late as Blues stroll

Real Madrid 1 - 0 FC Zurich
Ronaldo returns

The Path to the Knockout Stage + Complete Standings

England: Wednesday Premier League Reports + Table

Fulham 3 - 0 Blackburn
Dempsey double downs Rovers

Hull City 3 - 2 Everton
Tigers hold on for vital victory

Chelsea	13	33
Manchester United	13	28
Arsenal	12	25
Tottenham Hotspur	13	25
Aston Villa	13	22
Manchester City	12	21
Liverpool	13	20
Sunderland	13	20
Stoke City	13	19
Fulham	13	18
Burnley	13	17
Blackburn Rovers	13	16
Birmingham	13	15
Everton	13	15
Hull City	14	15
Wigan Athletic	13	14
West Ham United	13	11
Bolton Wanderers	12	11
Wolverhampton Wanderers	13	10
Portsmouth	13	7

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Just the Basics Today

A day of travel (over the river and through the woods) so just the basics today. Besides Paul Hart's sacking and the Champions League, there's not much going on. Be safe. -Sanford

UEFA Champions League: Wednesday Preview

Chelsea and Manchester United can win their respective UEFA Champions League groups with qualification to the knockout phase already assured.

There is significantly more at stake in Group C, where all four clubs retain hopes of qualification, although heavyweight duo AC Milan and Real Madrid currently occupy the top two berths.

Milan play host to third-placed Marseille, who are just one point adrift of the leading duo, with Leonardo's men knowing victory would be enough to see them through.

Real welcome an FC Zurich side spanked 6-1 by Marseille in their last outing, but the Spanish giants must be wary after the Swiss club claimed a shock success at the San Siro in September to secure their only success so far.

Preview

UEFA Champions League: Tuesday Reports

Liverpool crashed out of the UEFA Champions League and Rangers tumbled out of Europe completely as Arsenal cruised into the last 16.

Debrecen 0 - 1 Liverpool
Reds win but crash out
Liverpool's bread and butter look stale
Uncertain future awaits

Fiorentina 1 - 0 Lyon
Viola through at Liverpool's expense

Barcelona 2 - 0 Inter Milan
Barca dominate Nerazzurri
A complete performance

Arsenal 2 - 0 Standard Liege
Gunners top group
Horror foul leaves Gibbs with broken foot

Rangers 0 - 2 Stuttgart
Germans too good

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Bottom of the table Pompey sack manager Hart

Portsmouth have sacked manager Paul Hart after the club's poor start to the season left them rooted to the bottom of the Premier League.

UEFA Champions League: Tuesday Previews

Liverpool, Barcelona and Rangers are all facing the prospect of crashing out of the UEFA Champions League in the penultimate round of group games.

Debrecen vs. Liverpool
Victory in Hungary may not be enough
Carragher remembers past failures
U.S. TV: Setanta (LIVE at 2:45pm), FSC (5pm)

Barcelona vs. Inter Milan
Reigning champs face tough test
Eto'o can haunt former club
Barcelona on the brink
U.S. TV: FSE (LIVE at 2:45pm), FSNet (5pm), FSC (7pm)

Fiorentina vs. Lyon
Both clubs look to advance
Fiorentina raise stakes
U.S. TV: Fox Soccer Channel (LIVE at 2:45pm)

Arsenal vs. Standard Liege
Draw at home enough for Gunners to advance
Standard boss hopes to exploit Arsenal weakness
U.S. TV: Setanta (4:45pm), FSC (9pm)

Rubin Kazan vs. Dynamo Kiev
Russian champs look to continue success

Rangers vs. Stuttgart
Must win for both clubs

World Cup 2010 Draw: All You Need to Know

What: Fifa World Cup 2010 draw
Where: Cape Town, South Africa
When: December 4, 2009 5pm GMT.

The 32 teams will be seeded in four pots to be confirmed, perhaps, as late as the eve of the draw itself.

The 90-minute ceremony will take place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. More than 2,000 guests will be present in addition to a media presence of around 800.

Fernando Torres: exclusive interview with Liverpool and Spain's 'El Nino'

Spanish striker Fernando Torres talks about life at Liverpool and in the Premier League, and how he had managed to avoid the limelight despite his football superstar status.

Second-tier soccer league dubs itself the NASL

The new NASL has nine teams: Carolina RailHawks, Atlanta Silverbacks, Crystal Palace Baltimore, Miami FC, Minnesota Thunder, Montreal Impact, St. Louis Soccer United, Tampa Bay Rowdies and Vancouver Whitecaps FC.

Ljungberg Wants to See Arsenal Steel

Freddie Ljungberg knows all the questions about Arsenal's durability. Do they have substance to go with their undoubted style? Character as well as creativity? Depth as well as desire? In short, when the going gets tough, can Arsenal get going?

Sepp Blatter calls emergency Fifa meeting after Ireland's controversial defeat

Sepp Blatter has called an emergency meeting of Fifa’s executive committee to discuss the fallout from Ireland’s World Cup qualifying play-off elimination by France.

The meeting will be held only two days before the draw for the finals in South Africa.

Sid Lowe in Spain

It's not supposed to be this way. Carlos Marchena's not supposed to score and he's certainly not supposed to score the same day David Albelda does.

Even the most evil men are capable of beauty once in a while.

Raphael Honigstein in Germany

A masterful display at Freiburg confirmed Mesut Özil's status as the best player in the league, a one-man source of creativity.

Mesut Özil streets ahead of rivals to inspire Werder to greater heights.

Paolo Bandini in Italy

After seeing off Fiorentina 3-2, Parma find themselves fifth in the table and that certainly is an extraordinary achievement.

Seventh sister back on the scene as Parma perk up sibling rivalry.

Jonathan Wilson in Eastern Europe

The Dutchman's ignoring of Rubin players may have helped them retain the title and cost Russia a World Cup finals place.

Rubin Kazan have good reason to thank the blinkered Guus Hiddink.

Phil Ball in Spain

The trouble with the 'clásico' (Barcelona v Real Madrid, in case you didn't know) is that in the week preceding this apocalyptic fixture everything seems conditioned by its looming presence. It might have been better for the clubs themselves to have played the game on a weekend which neither preceded nor succeeded a Champions League midweek, but the gods of destiny preferred to keep things boiling over, sitting up there in the clouds this summer, poring over the fixture list.

Grant Wahl: Q&A with MLS Commish Garber

Our discussion addressed a number of topics, including his views on using instant replay in soccer officiating (in the wake of the controversy in Wednesday's World Cup Ireland-France World Cup qualifier), the MLS salary cap, Landon Donovan's future in MLS, a move to a single table, consensus-building with MLS owners, and his thoughts on my book, The Beckham Experiment. The following conversation has been edited for space and clarity:

Monday, November 23, 2009

Bobby McMahon Column

Not since Zinedine Zidane lined up Marco Materazzi’s chest with his head in Berlin over three years ago have so many opinions, distortions, hyperbole and hypocritical utterances been spewed forth.

The “Henry Incident” has provided an opportunity for outlandish stereo-typing and xenophobia. Opportunists have embraced a platform from which to moralize while others see the chance to advocate the red herring solution of video replay. (When Tony Cascarino lectures on ethics and fair play and isn’t laughed out of town then the apocalypse must be at hand.)

Fifa shows Iraqi footballers the red card after Sunni-Shia struggle

Iraqi football teams have been banned from all international competitions after sectarian infighting among the country’s sports officials.

England: Top 10 Drubbings

Goals fly in from all angles, with scoreboards threatening to blow a fuse and reporters racing through pencils as they frantically scribble away in an effort to keep up with the action unfolding in front of them.

These are the games which really capture the imagination - at least for the players and supporters of the side in the ascendancy.

Tottenham followers enjoyed one such afternoon on Sunday, with Spurs putting nine past hapless Wigan, so here skysports.com takes a look at a few other top flight fixtures which have seen the netting take a pummelling.

Monday MLS Breakdown: RSL's MLS Cup Triumph Is No Overnight Success

Few gave Real Salt Lake much of a shot to defeat Los Angeles and win its first MLS Cup. Kyle McCarthy explains how RSL positioned itself for glory and grasped the opportunity in the Monday MLS Breakdown.

MLS Final Player Ratings

Spain: La Liga Weekend Round-ups

Real Madrid have moved to the top of the Liga table after beating Racing Santander while Barcelona were held at Athletic Bilbao.
Saturday

Valencia moved back into the Primera Liga's top four on Sunday with a convincing victory on their travels.
Sunday

Italy: Serie A Team of the Week

Ronaldinho (Milan): Arguably the former Barcelona star’s best match this season. A full ninety minutes of ingenuity and creativity. His one-touch assist for Pato was sublime and his penalty was dispatched with confidence. He is thriving in Leonardo’s system and enjoying his football again.

The Rest