Great for the fans, not so much for Chivas. And I’m kinda feeling those new yellow kits!
This kids is why you don’t try to play out of the back against Barcelona.
Keep an eye on Puyol for Chivas’ 2nd goal. I know it’s just a pre-season game for Barcelona and the 1st goal wasn’t so much his fault, but letting your forward float that much on a cross?
Although some of you have might not have an interest in Mexican Football, I thought I’d share with you an experience I recently had. A couple of weeks ago I was hired by Las Aguilas de Club America from Mexico City to cover their time in San Diego during the team’s international friendly match against bitter rivals Cruz Azul. I got to be embedded with the team for 48 hours that included down time at the Hotel and training session on Friday evening in an empty Qualcomm stadium.
Chelsea, er I mean Anelka absolutely destroyed AC Milan, er I mean Zeljko Kalac (paging Dida, please pick up Dida).
With the exception of Kalac’s swing and a miss that led to the Anelka tap in (good job following that up and putting pressure on the keeper), Anelka’s finishing and goal poaching was top form.
For the second year in a row (last year against Real Salt Lake) Premiership side Everton FC has come to the United States for pre-season matches and walked away with a loss.
While it’s obviously not the end of the world as they are preparing for a long, long season, the 2-nil loss to the Chicago Fire (who actually knew they were even playing this match) has Everton head coach David Moyes publicly wondering about his attack.
Lineups:
USA: 18-Brad Guzan; 2-Marvell Wynne, 15-Michael Parkhurst, 6-Maurice Edu, 3-Michael Orozco; 16-Sacha Kljestan (10-Benny Feilhaber, 46), 4-Michael Bradley (13-Patrick Ianni, 89), 11-Freddy Adu (5-Dax McCarty, 46), 7-Stuart Holden (8-Danny Szetela, 46); 17-Brian McBride (capt.) (14-Robbie Rogers, 46), 12-Jozy Altidore (9-Charlie Davies, 46)
Subs Not Used: 1-Chris Seitz
Head Coach: Peter Nowak
CIV: 1-Vincent de Paul Angban, 2-Serge Pascal Wawa, 3-Ousamane Viera Diarrassouba, 5-Brou Benjamin Angoua, 7-Kafoumba Coulibaly (6-Herve Kambou, 67), 8-Salomon Kalou, 9-Franck Dja-Djedje (17-Antoine N’Gossan, 46), 10-Koumatien Kone, 12-Mamadou Bagayoko, 14-Kouassi Gervai Yao (capt.), 18-Sekou Cisse (13-Abraham Guie Guie, 81)
Subs Not Used: 16-Fabrice Okous, 4-Nassa Guy Roland Niangbo, 11-Moura Komenan Anthony, 15-Tamla Ladij
Head Coach: Gerard Gili
Behind the scenes of Steve Nash’s Showdown in Chinatown by 13th Witness.
Talk about clinic…..that sh*t was too easy.
The best part about the game is when we scored the third goal, I didn’t even celebrate.
That’s when the Mexico fans got even more pissed that I didn’t even acknowledge the goal!
There were 68,498 people at the game last night and I think about 68,400 were Mexican. The parking lot was half full when we got there at 4:45 p.m. for an 8:00 p.m. kick off.
Mexican flags, carne asada and improptu games of soccer breaking out all over the parking lot. And there we were, our little sect of 6 Argies cooking chorizo and drinking wine. My uncle thought I was crazy to be wearing my Argentina jersey but after going to Newell’s/Central in Rosario a few months ago this didn’t seem too bad. After all, in Argentina they throw piss and rocks and here they were throwing popcorn and ice.
The favortie chant of the night was “Puto, Puto, Puto” but I didn’t hear too much out of them after the first goal, the second, the third and definitely not after the fourth.
Argentina put on a fantastic display of soccer against a very formiddable opponent and the best player in the world put on a show all by himself. Messi (Newell’s Old Boys) had a hand in three of Argentina’s four goals. He assisted the first and the third but what he did on the second was worth the price of admission all by itself. After committing three defenders at the top of the box and squirting the ball wide to Julio Cruz, he ran into the box and got on the end of the cross that Aguero dummied to him for an easy tap in.
The goal was nowhere near as good as Maxi’s in the World Cup or the one where he chipped Oswaldo Sanchez in the Copa America in full stride from inside the eighteen but it’s definitely one that I won’t forget any time soon. What a great night!!!
Yeah ladies, he’s single….
The second goal from Messi is outrageous.
Watch closely as he gets away from 3 defenders at the top of the 18, passes the ball, gets his feet taken out from under him, gets up without complaining quickly and sprints to the top of the six to use the inside of his left to kiss it far post, past the statue standing in goal known as Osvaldo.
The biggest difference in the match was Argentina’s reactions to loose balls in the box, movement off the ball and Mexico’s struggles with clearing the ball out of their defensive third.
UPDATE - According to the US Mens National Team Blog, Spain’s roster for Wednesday’s friendly has been set.
Goalkeepers:
Andrés Palop Cervera(Sevilla F.C. S.A.D.)
José Manuel Reina Páez(Liverpool F.C. )
Iker Casillas Fernández(Real Madrid C.F.)
Defenders:
Raúl Albiol Tortajada(Valencia C.F. S.A.D.)
Joan Capdevila Méndez(Villarreal C.F. S.A.D.)
Carles Puyol Saforcada(F.C. Barcelona)
Sergio Ramos García(Real Madrid C.F.)
Juan Gutiérrez Moreno(Real Betis Balompié S.A.D.)
Carlos López Marchena(Valencia C.F. S.A.D.)
Álvaro Arbeloa Coca(Liverpool C.F.)
Fernando Navarro Corbacho(R.C.D. Mallorca)
Midfielders:
Marcos Antonio Senna Da Silva(Villarreal C.F. S.A.D.)
David Jiménez Silva(Valencia C.F. S.A.D.)
Xavier Hernández Creus(F.C. Barcelona )
Andrés Iniesta Luján(F.C. Barcelona )
Francesc Fabregas Soler(Arsenal F.C.)
Xabier Alonso Olano(Liverpool F.C.)
Rubén de la Red Gutiérrez(Getafe C.F. S.A.D)
Sergio García de la Fuente(Real Zaragoza S.A.D.)
Santiago Cazorla González(Villarreal C.F. S.A.D.)
Forwards:
David Villa Sánchez(Valencia C.F. S.A.D.)
Fernando José Torres Sanz(Liverpool F.C.)
Daniel Gonzalez Güiza(R.C.D Mallorca S.A.D.)
According to the US Mens National Team Blog, the US Roster has been set against Spain.
U.S. ROSTER BY POSITION
Goalkeepers (3): Dominic Cervi (out of contract), Brad Guzan (Chivas USA), Tim Howard (Everton FC)
Defenders (7): Carlos Bocanegra (out of contract), Dan Califf (FC Midtjylland), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96), Jay DeMerit (Watford FC), Frankie Hejduk (Columbus Crew), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege), Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock)
Midfielders (6): Freddy Adu (SL Benfica), DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers), Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen), Maurice Edu (Toronto FC), Eddie Lewis (Derby County), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado Rapids)
Forwards (4): Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC), Nate Jaqua (out of contract), Eddie Johnson (Fulham FC), Josh Wolff (out of contract)
image via Soccerlens
A very special thank you to Mike Janosz for the great photos from Sunday’s 2008 European Championship kick off match between Hollywood United and Alpine United.
Bottom L-R - Donal Logue, Gilles Marini, Derk Droze, Danny Cannon, DJ Bob Sinclair, Jason Marthot, Brian Burdue
Top L-R - Hilton Goring, Brian Dunseth, Allen Hopkins, Jimmy-Jean Louis, Alexi Lalas, Brandon Routh, Dermot Mulroney, Olivier Biaggi, Billy Duffy, Manager Ian Carrington
Not Pictured because they were just a bit late, Rohan and Ziggy Marley
Gilles Marini battling through the defense.
