Friday, May 30, 2008
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Sancocho or Pupusas?
With Concacaf's stage 2 of the World Cup Qualifying round looming, upsets are unlikely. Half of the teams will have their dreams of visiting South Africa shattered, while some others will be using next month's games as warm-ups for the third and more competitive stage. The U.S. and Mexico expect easy wins over Barbados and Belize, respectively. The Belizeños aren't even pretending to care about home court advantage. They will "host" Mexico in Houston, perhaps hoping the Aztec fans will leave some cash in the small country's federation coffers.
The only series with some excitement seems to be the one between Panama and El Salvador. History between the two teams favors the Guanacos who have won twice as many games. Lately, though, things have improved for the Panamanians. It has been almost four years since the Salvadorans won a match against the Canaleros, a side which outscored them 5:0 in the past four matches.
We will have to wait a couple of weeks to see what happens at Estadio Rommel Fernandez in Panama City. In the mean time soccer fans will enjoy the more competitive and slightly more alluring Euro2008.
The only series with some excitement seems to be the one between Panama and El Salvador. History between the two teams favors the Guanacos who have won twice as many games. Lately, though, things have improved for the Panamanians. It has been almost four years since the Salvadorans won a match against the Canaleros, a side which outscored them 5:0 in the past four matches.
We will have to wait a couple of weeks to see what happens at Estadio Rommel Fernandez in Panama City. In the mean time soccer fans will enjoy the more competitive and slightly more alluring Euro2008.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Drama in Luzhniki Stadium
One of the most anticipated matches of the year is a whistle away. On Wednesday, the UEFA Champions League will see its last 90 minutes of play for the season '07-'08 and, as usual, expectations run high. But this year the much awaited battle has added value as two things will happen for the first time in the history of the competition:
1) Chelsea will make its first appearance at this stage of the tournament
2) Both finalists are English teams, the other being Manchester United
It is not the first time two teams from the same country make it to the final. In 2003 AC Milan and Juventus battled on the pitch for 120 minutes before the feared coin toss that are the penalty kicks went in favor of the Milano squad. Four years earlier Real Madrid held the cup after beating Valencia 3-0.
This time around the fans that will witness the match at Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium have extra reasons to expect a great display of soccer. Just eight days ago Man U and Chelsea were neck-in-neck in pursuit of the English Primier League title. Luck favored the Red Devils, leaving the Blues thirsty for revenge. There will be extra motivation for the London stars Drogba and Lampard who will try to show Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo that they too are worthy of a European title.
1) Chelsea will make its first appearance at this stage of the tournament
2) Both finalists are English teams, the other being Manchester United
It is not the first time two teams from the same country make it to the final. In 2003 AC Milan and Juventus battled on the pitch for 120 minutes before the feared coin toss that are the penalty kicks went in favor of the Milano squad. Four years earlier Real Madrid held the cup after beating Valencia 3-0.
This time around the fans that will witness the match at Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium have extra reasons to expect a great display of soccer. Just eight days ago Man U and Chelsea were neck-in-neck in pursuit of the English Primier League title. Luck favored the Red Devils, leaving the Blues thirsty for revenge. There will be extra motivation for the London stars Drogba and Lampard who will try to show Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo that they too are worthy of a European title.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Forza Inter!
Inter reached the goal and won the Scudetto after a dramatic end of the season. The glory is for Zlatan "Ibracadabra" who came back from an injury to score two second-half goals and keep Roma with their cigars in the same place where the fireworks are, stored deep in some dark room in the Olimpico de Roma.
Suazo didn't play and if he gets the boot I'll make some calls and arrange for the New York Red Bulls to get a real striker. Altidore, the only Red Bull called to the US national team, hasn't really impressed. We need the real football team in the NY area to get the attention the Giants had the luck to run into earlier this year.
Next Wednesday: the final of the UEFA Champions League, the best league in terms of branding after the World Cup, ah, and pretty good football, too.
Suazo didn't play and if he gets the boot I'll make some calls and arrange for the New York Red Bulls to get a real striker. Altidore, the only Red Bull called to the US national team, hasn't really impressed. We need the real football team in the NY area to get the attention the Giants had the luck to run into earlier this year.
Next Wednesday: the final of the UEFA Champions League, the best league in terms of branding after the World Cup, ah, and pretty good football, too.
Glory
The wait is over. In less than it takes to watch a bad movie, of which there are always too many out there, the season finale of Italia´s Serie A will commence. If you are a fan of soccer, (aka football, fútbol, futebol, calcio, etc.) you know that there is no actual "championship final" but a champion will be decided on the 38th and last day of the season.
Inter have been the leader the pack all season, but its lead over Roma has been shortened from somewhere around eight points to one point due to the neri-azzurri's poor performances in the past few weeks. It truly doesn't matter how well Roma plays, even if the score 20 goals they are still dependent on Inter's ability to deliver what until recently had been the norm: a victory.
This game is of particular importance to Hondurans. Yes, Hondurans, people from that Central American country most people have never heard of. Yes, the one near Costa Rica. The reason for this is that it's the closest any Honduran has come to soccer glory in the world arena in the past 26 years. David Suazo, the striker that came this season from Cagliari after a dispute between Inter Milan and their rivals AC Milan, is due to play some 15 minutes if coach Mancini's script hasn't changed.
Hondurans dream not that Inter gets the Scudetto but that Suazo turns out to be a key part of this if not the hero. You see, this particular match is one in which glory can be attained by simply doing what Suazo has been paid to do, score goals. More accurately, score a goal if the right circumstamces are present. Materazzi, the guy who admmitedly insulted Zinedine Zindane's sister to get the French star's head boiling and a red card with it two summers ago, had the chance for glory last week. The funny thing is that Materazzi is a defender that hasn't really been a star in the team. He was absent for a good part of the season due to injury, and hardly ever has a role in Inter's attack machine. But last week he had the chance for glory at his feet, and he blew it. Couldn't score a penalty kick that would have given Inter the title of champions. So the glory is up for grabs. All Suazo needs to do is push the ball into the net. It doesn't matter how that happens, if he does it the rumors of his return to Cagliari will disappear. His under-par eight goals in the seaon will look more that Julio Cruz's and Zlatan Ibrahimovic's goals put together, and Super Mario Balotelli will have to wait until he can drive a car to be the star of the team.
One goal. Anyone can be a hero, even that guy who barely ever plays, who comes from that country that no one's ever heard of.
Inter have been the leader the pack all season, but its lead over Roma has been shortened from somewhere around eight points to one point due to the neri-azzurri's poor performances in the past few weeks. It truly doesn't matter how well Roma plays, even if the score 20 goals they are still dependent on Inter's ability to deliver what until recently had been the norm: a victory.
This game is of particular importance to Hondurans. Yes, Hondurans, people from that Central American country most people have never heard of. Yes, the one near Costa Rica. The reason for this is that it's the closest any Honduran has come to soccer glory in the world arena in the past 26 years. David Suazo, the striker that came this season from Cagliari after a dispute between Inter Milan and their rivals AC Milan, is due to play some 15 minutes if coach Mancini's script hasn't changed.
Hondurans dream not that Inter gets the Scudetto but that Suazo turns out to be a key part of this if not the hero. You see, this particular match is one in which glory can be attained by simply doing what Suazo has been paid to do, score goals. More accurately, score a goal if the right circumstamces are present. Materazzi, the guy who admmitedly insulted Zinedine Zindane's sister to get the French star's head boiling and a red card with it two summers ago, had the chance for glory last week. The funny thing is that Materazzi is a defender that hasn't really been a star in the team. He was absent for a good part of the season due to injury, and hardly ever has a role in Inter's attack machine. But last week he had the chance for glory at his feet, and he blew it. Couldn't score a penalty kick that would have given Inter the title of champions. So the glory is up for grabs. All Suazo needs to do is push the ball into the net. It doesn't matter how that happens, if he does it the rumors of his return to Cagliari will disappear. His under-par eight goals in the seaon will look more that Julio Cruz's and Zlatan Ibrahimovic's goals put together, and Super Mario Balotelli will have to wait until he can drive a car to be the star of the team.
One goal. Anyone can be a hero, even that guy who barely ever plays, who comes from that country that no one's ever heard of.
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