2012.05.27 - The Result

USA: Major League Soccer

22:30 -- Sporting Kansas City - San Jose Earthquakes 2-1     highlights
[1-0]  5' Charles J. Sapong
[2-0]  39' Kei Kamara
[2-1]  72' Simon Dawkins

Current standings:
Eastern Conference:
1 D.C United  15 8 3 4 28-19 +9  27p
2 New York  13 8 2 3 26-18 +8  26p
3 Sporting KC  12 8 1 3 17-10 +7  25p
4 Chicago Fire  12 5 3 4 15-15 0  18p
5 Columbus  12 5 3 4 13-13 0  18p
6 Houston  11 4 4 3 12-12 0  16p
Western Conference:
1 Real Salt Lake  14 9 2 3 22-14 +8  29p
2 San Jose  14 8 3 3 27-17 +10  27p
3 Seattle  13 7 3 3 16-9 +7  24p
4 Colorado  13 6 1 6 20-18 +2  19p
5 Vancouver  12 5 4 3 13-14 -1  19p
6 Chivas USA  13 4 3 6 9-14 -5  15p

2012.05.26 - The Results

USA: Major League Soccer

20:45 -- Houston Dynamo - Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1 (1-1)
22:30 -- Toronto FC - Philadelphia Union 1-0 (0-0)
01:00 -- Columbus Crew - Chicago Fire 2-1 (2-0)
01:30 -- D.C. United - New England Revolution 3-2 (2-0)
03:00 -- Colorado Rapids - Montreal Impact 3-2 (2-1)
03:00 -- Real Salt Lake - Dallas 3-2 (0-0)
04:00 -- Portland Timbers - Vancouver Whitecaps 1-1 (0-0)
04:30 -- CD Chivas USA - Seattle Sounders 1-1 (0-0)

Current standings:
Eastern Conference:
1 D.C United  15 8 3 4 28-19 +9  27p
2 New York  13 8 2 3 26-18 +8  26p
3 Sporting KC  11 7 1 3 15-9 +6  22p
4 Chicago Fire  12 5 3 4 15-15 0  18p
5 Columbus  12 5 3 4 13-13 0  18p
6 Houston  11 4 4 3 12-12 0  16p
Western Conference:
1 Real Salt Lake  14 9 2 3 22-14 +8  29p
2 San Jose  13 8 3 2 26-15 +11  27p
3 Seattle  13 7 3 3 16-9 +7  24p
4 Colorado  13 6 1 6 20-18 +2  19p
5 Vancouver  12 5 4 3 13-14 -1  19p
6 Chivas USA  13 4 3 6 9-14 -5  15p

2012.05.25 - The Result

SPAIN: Copa Del Rey - Final

22:00 -- Athletic - Barcelona 0-3     highlights
3' Pedro Rodriguez
20' Lionel Andres Messi
25' Pedro Rodriguez

2012.05.23 - The Results

USA: Major League Soccer

01:00 -- New York Red Bulls - CD Chivas USA 1-1 (0-0)     highlights
02:30 -- Chicago Fire - Dallas 2-1 (1-1)
04:00 -- Seattle Sounders - Columbus Crew 0-2 (0-1)
04:30 -- Los Angeles Galaxy - San Jose Earthquakes 2-3 (1-0)     highlights

Current standings:
Eastern Conference:
1 New York  13 8 2 3 26-18 +8  26p
2 D.C United  14 7 3 4 25-17 +8  24p
3 Sporting KC  11 7 1 3 15-9 +6  22p
4 Chicago Fire  11 5 3 3 14-13 +1  18p
5 Columbus  11 4 3 4 11-12 -1  15p
6 New England  11 4 1 6 14-15 -1  13p
Western Conference:
1 San Jose  13 8 3 2 26-15 +11  27p
2 Real Salt Lake  13 8 2 3 19-12 +7  26p
3 Seattle  12 7 2 3 15-8 +7  23p
4 Vancouver  11 5 3 3 12-13 -1  18p
5 Colorado  12 5 1 6 17-16 +1  16p
6 Chivas USA  12 4 2 6 8-13 -5  14p

2012.05.20 - The Results

FRANCE: Ligue 1

21:00 -- Auxerre - Montpellier 1-2 (match delayed twice in the second half, ended 30 minutes later)     highlights
[1-0]  20' Narcisse Oliver Kapo Obou
[1-1]  32' John Utaka
[1-2]  76' John Utaka
21:00 -- Evian - Brest 0-1 (0-0)
21:00 -- Lille - Nancy 4-1 (4-1)
21:00 -- Lorient - Paris Saint Germain 1-2     highlights
[1-0]  28' Kevin Monnet-Paquet
[1-1]  61' Javier Pastore
[1-2]  75' Thiago Motta
21:00 -- Lyon - Nice 3-4 (2-2)
21:00 -- Rennes - Dijon 5-0 (1-0)
21:00 -- Saint-Etienne - Bordeaux 2-3 (1-2)     highlights
21:00 -- Sochaux - Marseille 1-0 (0-0)
21:00 -- Toulouse - Ajaccio 0-2 (0-2)
21:00 -- Valenciennes - Caen 3-1 (1-0)

Final standings:
1 Montpellier  38 25 7 6 68-34 +34  82p
2 PSG  38 23 10 5 75-41 +34  79p
3 Lille  38 21 11 6 72-39 +33  74p
4 Lyon  38 19 7 12 64-51 +13  64p
5 Bordeaux  38 16 13 9 53-41 +12  61p



ITALY: Coppa Italia (Final)

21:00 -- Juventus - Napoli 0-2     highlights
63' Edinson Cavani (pen.)
83' Marek Hamsik



USA: Major League Soccer

01:00 -- Portland Timbers - Chicago Fire 2-1 (1-1)

Current standings:
Eastern Conference:
1 New York  12 8 1 3 25-17 +8  25p
2 D.C United  14 7 3 4 25-17 +8  24p
3 Sporting KC  11 7 1 3 15-9 +6  22p
4 Chicago Fire  10 4 3 3 12-12 0  15p
5 New England  11 4 1 6 14-15 -1  13p
6 Houston  10 3 4 3 10-11 -1  13p
Western Conference:
1 Real Salt Lake  13 8 2 3 19-12 +7  26p
2 San Jose  12 7 3 2 23-13 +10  24p
3 Seattle  11 7 2 2 15-6 +9  23p
4 Vancouver  11 5 3 3 12-13 -1  18p
5 Colorado  12 5 1 6 17-16 +1  16p
6 Chivas USA  11 4 1 6 7-12 -5  13p

First Title

Montpellier HSC won the first French league title in their history.

They only needed a draw at Auxerre, already relegated, to claim the title, but they did one better, and won, 2-1.
(The one team which I'm sorry was relegated, by the way, is Caen. Caen had succeeded in beating Lyon both home and away. So, too bad that they went down. Meanwhile, useless teams like Sochaux and Evian are still in Ligue 1...)

Anyway, getting back to Montpellier, they conceded a goal to the hosts in the 20th minute. At that time, if the score held, PSG only needed to win at Lorient to become champions instead.
In minute 28 of that match, played at the same time, though, Lorient scored.
Four minutes later, John Utaka equalized for Montpellier, and PSG's task seemed hopeless.

In the second half, as the game was progressing towards the inevitable end, Auxerre fans began to show their disappointment by throwing things onto the field. The game was interrupted temporarily.
In the meantime, PSG equalized, through Pastore (61). 1-1 at Lorient, too.
The match at Auxerre briefly started again, and then once more was stopped by the referee, for more than 20 minutes.
Motta (75) scored PSG's second goal, and now the minds of the Parisians were wondering to Montpellier's fixture (which could have been a 3-0 decision in favour of the team that produced Laurent Blanc, if the game could not be resumed but which could also start again and... who knows?)

When Auxerre - Montpellier started again, PSG's victory was already final.
But Auxerre needed to score again for Paris Saint-Germain to take the title.

There was another goal, yes, but Utaka scored it (in minute 76, which, and this must be emphasized, was much later than the 76th minute of the other nine matches). So, Montpellier got their assurance, and the first Ligue 1 title.
All the PSG players could do was watch. And they probably were watching.

Highlights from Lorient - PSG 1-2:


Highlights from Auxerre - Montpellier 1-2:


Now all the champions of all the big leagues in Europe have been determined, for 2011-2012. The French champion was the last big unknown.

No Double for Juve

All that talk about the third star must have affected the concentration of the Juventus players.

For one hour of gameplay it seemed that Juventus was the usual unbeaten team that Antonio Conte guided to the first title since... 2003?

But, actually, Napoli was more Juve-like than Juve, in this Coppa Italia final, and they got a penalty in the 63rd minute, after a mistake by Juventus' back-up keeper, Storari. Cavani converted coolly, and Juventus' cup challenge was not looking pretty.

Juventus was pressing more, but Napoli's counters were getting more dangerous, too. From one of this counters, Hamsik found himself relatively free in Juventus' penalty area, and he executed Storari with a well-placed shot (83).
2-0 for Napoli, and that was the final.

I guess after the impressive performance in the Champions League, where they eliminated Manchester City, and almost ousted Chelsea, too, Napoli deserved a trophy this season.

Highlights:

Juventus vs Napoli 0-2 Finale Coppa Italia 2012 by Roma-eterna

2012.05.19 - The Results

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Final

20:45 -- Bayern - Chelsea 1-1, 1-1 after extra time, 3-4 on penalties only, 4-5 final score     highlights
[1-0]  83' Thomas Muller
[1-1]  88' Didier Drogba
x - 95' Arjen Robben (m. pen. Bayern) - x



USA: Major League Soccer

23:00 -- Vancouver Whitecaps - Seattle Sounders 2-2
[1-0]  12' Alain Rochat
[1-1]  47' Eddie Johnson
[2-1]  82' Camillo Da Silva Sanvezzo
[2-2]  90' Fredy Montero
01:30 -- New England Revolution - Houston Dynamo 2-2 (1-1)
01:30 -- D.C. United - Toronto FC 3-1 (2-0)
01:30 -- Montreal Impact - New York Red Bulls 1-2 (1-1)
02:30 -- Dallas - Philadelphia Union 1-1 (1-0)
03:00 -- Colorado Rapids - Sporting Kansas City 2-2 (0-2)
04:30 -- San Jose Earthquakes - Columbus Crew 1-1 (0-1)
04:30 -- CD Chivas USA - Los Angeles Galaxy 1-0 (0-0)

Current standings:
Eastern Conference:
1 New York  12 8 1 3 25-17 +8  25p
2 D.C United  14 7 3 4 25-17 +8  24p
3 Sporting KC  11 7 1 3 15-9 +6  22p
4 Chicago Fire  9 4 3 2 11-10 +1  15p
5 New England  11 4 1 6 14-15 -1  13p
6 Houston  10 3 4 3 10-11 -1  13p
Western Conference:
1 Real Salt Lake  13 8 2 3 19-12 +7  26p
2 San Jose  12 7 3 2 23-13 +10  24p
3 Seattle  11 7 2 2 15-6 +9  23p
4 Vancouver  11 5 3 3 12-13 -1  18p
5 Colorado  12 5 1 6 17-16 +1  16p
6 Chivas USA  11 4 1 6 7-12 -5  13p

Worst Season of Abramovich Era, But Best Trophy Won

Chelsea's owner did not make it a secret that this is the trophy he was after, for a long time. But I'm sure not even he had high hopes of winning the Champions League, at the time of Villas-Boas' demotion, not too long ago.

So, Chelsea won the Champions League. Finally.
Before the match, coach Di Matteo had said that they worked hard at perfecting their penalty strategy. He wasn't kidding! (Although, to tell the truth, after the first five penalty kicks of the ten, I thought Chelsea was going to crack, and that they were going to lose yet another final penalty shoot-out.)

Di Matteo deserves some credit. He seems to be a very lucky coach. Just like Drogba has been a very lucky player (and, actually, a good-luck talisman for his team) lately.
Yes, Drogba caused a couple of penalties against Chelsea, but neither was converted, and on the other hand he also scored some crucial goals at crucial moments, including the last penalty kick of the CL final. Likewise, Di Matteo was also lucky that their opponents in the two finals, the Champions League one and the FA Cup one, in addition to Barcelona in the CL semifinals, missed very important chances against his gameplay strategies (such as a couple of very important penalties, and one header pushed out right from the goal line by Petr Cech).

But I can't say that Di Matteo is a very good coach, because Chelsea should have played better in the Champions League final.
It seems like Di Matteo told his players to soak up the German pressure. And the English players weren't even marking the Germans too tight. Under such conditions, no wonder the Germans caused some serious panic going forward, had about eight times more corner kicks that Chelsea in the 90 minutes, and also got a penalty in extra time, which should have probably meant certain victory. (Why the hell was Drogba responsible for defending against Ribery, in the 94th minute, anyway?)

Bayern, of course, went for glory from the start, because, after all, the game was played on their own stadium. Much of the stands was simply a sea of red.
But Bayern is not exactly the best team on the continent, though, and they have deficiencies when finishing their attacks. The Bayern attacking players understood that the spaces left by the Chelsea defense can be exploited mainly with long shots, but so many of the German shots, even from very favourable positions went high over the net. (In the 43rd minute, after an attack which left the Londoners scrambling nervously in defense, for example, Gomez should have scored.)

But the Germans eventually did gain the advantage, through a Thomas Muller header that made Cech look pathetic in goal. (The Czech would exact his revenge, though, come penalty time.) It was minute 83, then, and an entire stadium was getting ready for a Bayern victory.
However, Chelsea showed unexpected resiliency, and Drogba was able to head the ball perfectly, in the 88th minute, following Chelsea's first corner of the match. Goalkeeper Neuer could not do anything to it. 1-1, and that was the full-time score.

The same net, and even the same side of the net, actually, would witness an amazing penalty save, in extra time. Robben went for power instead of accuracy, after Ribery was fouled by Drogba and the referee pointed to the spot, and Cech caught the ball under him. The minute was 95.
(Arjen Robben, the Dutch player who just cannot win anything these days, really should practice his finishers, especially his penalty kicks. I said that before, here. Seriously, if he had scored more of the huge chances he got, in 2010 and now, maybe his country and club would have been champions now. Robben is just like a bad-luck charm for the teams for which he plays.)

Bayern did attack more in extra time, too, even after the disappointment caused by Robben's miss, but no more goals were scored and the penalty lottery still came.

The very first Chelsea kick was missed, by Mata, but the other takers all scored for the English team. Even Lampard, who always shoots straight down the middle. (Maybe Neuer did not study penalties as well as Cech did...)

The last two kicks by the Germans were missed. Schweinsteiger was the one who aimed at the post, and missed last, thereby allowing Drogba the chance to win the match with his PK.
Supposedly, Schweinsteiger wasn't even going to take that kick, but Robben (- good move!?!?... -) and Kroos refused to take that deciding penalty. Bastian Schweinsteiger had to step up... and his shot had power, but a little less accuracy than needed.

Olic was the other inaccurate penalty taker for Bayern.

And, so, the Bayern people saw what it's like, losing a penalty shoot-out on their own stadium. (Real Madrid fans will appreciate the irony, I'm sure.)

Here's the evolution of the penalty shoot-out:

Penalties:   Bayern - Chelsea   3 - 4

1st penalty Bayern: Lahm P. - GOAL (1-0)
    
1st penalty Chelsea: Mata J. - MISS (1-0)

2nd penalty Bayern: Gomez M. - GOAL (2-0)

2nd penalty Chelsea: Luiz D. - GOAL (2-1)

3rd penalty Bayern: Neuer M. - GOAL (3-1)

3rd penalty Chelsea: Lampard F. - GOAL (3-2)

4th penalty Bayern: Olic I. - MISS (3-2)

4th penalty Chelsea: Cole A. - GOAL (3-3)

5th penalty Bayern: Schweinsteiger B. - MISS (3-3)

5th penalty Chelsea: Drogba D. - GOAL (3-4) - END

See highlights here.

2012.05.16 - The Result

USA: Major League Soccer

01:30 -- D.C. United - Colorado Rapids 2-0 (1-0)

Current standings:
Eastern Conference:
1 New York  11 7 1 3 23-16 +7  22p
2 D.C United  13 6 3 4 22-16 +6  21p
3 Sporting KC  10 7 0 3 13-7 +6  21p
4 Chicago Fire  9 4 3 2 11-10 +1  15p
5 New England  10 4 0 6 12-13 -1  12p
6 Houston  9 3 3 3 8-9 -1  12p
Western Conference:
1 Real Salt Lake  13 8 2 3 19-12 +7  26p
2 San Jose  11 7 2 2 22-12 +10  23p
3 Seattle  10 7 1 2 13-4 +9  22p
4 Vancouver  10 5 2 3 10-11 -1  17p
5 Colorado  11 5 0 6 15-14 +1  15p
6 Dallas  12 3 3 6 11-18 -7  12p

2012.05.15 - The Result

USA: Major League Soccer

02:30 -- Houston Dynamo - Portland Timbers 0-0

Current standings:
Eastern Conference:
1 New York  11 7 1 3 23-16 +7  22p
2 Sporting KC  10 7 0 3 13-7 +6  21p
3 D.C United  12 5 3 4 20-16 +4  18p
4 Chicago Fire  9 4 3 2 11-10 +1  15p
5 New England  10 4 0 6 12-13 -1  12p
6 Houston  9 3 3 3 8-9 -1  12p
Western Conference:
1 Real Salt Lake  13 8 2 3 19-12 +7  26p
2 San Jose  11 7 2 2 22-12 +10  23p
3 Seattle  10 7 1 2 13-4 +9  22p
4 Vancouver  10 5 2 3 10-11 -1  17p
5 Colorado  10 5 0 5 15-12 +3  15p
6 Dallas  12 3 3 6 11-18 -7  12p

2012.05.13 - The Results

ENGLAND: Barclays Premiership

16:00 -- Chelsea - Blackburn 2-1 (2-0)     highlights
16:00 -- Everton - Newcastle 3-1 (2-0)     highlights
16:00 -- Manchester City - QPR 3-2     highlights
[1-0]  39' Pablo Zabaleta
[1-1]  48' Djibril Cisse
[1-2]  66' Jamie Mackie
[2-2]  90' + 2' Edin Dzeko
[3-2]  90' + 4' Sergio Aguero
16:00 -- Norwich - Aston Villa 2-0 (2-0)
16:00 -- Stoke City - Bolton 2-2 (1-2)
16:00 -- Sunderland - Manchester Utd. 0-1     highlights
20' Wayne Rooney
16:00 -- Swansea - Liverpool 1-0 (0-0)
16:00 -- Tottenham - Fulham 2-0 (1-0)     highlights
16:00 -- West Brom - Arsenal 2-3 (2-2)     highlights
16:00 -- Wigan - Wolverhampton 3-2 (2-1)

Current standings:
1 Manchester City  38 28 5 5 93-29 +64  89p
2 Manchester United  38 28 5 5 89-33 +56  89p
3 Arsenal  38 21 7 10 74-49 +25  70p
4 Tottenham Hotspur  38 20 9 9 66-41 +25  69p
5 Newcastle  38 19 8 11 56-51 +5  65p



FRANCE: Ligue 1

21:00 -- Ajaccio - Lyon 1-1 (0-0)
21:00 -- Bordeaux - Lorient 1-0 (0-0)
21:00 -- Brest - Valenciennes 1-0 (1-0)
21:00 -- Caen - Sochaux 1-3 (0-2)
21:00 -- Dijon - Toulouse 1-1 (1-1)
21:00 -- Marseille - Auxerre 3-0 (1-0)
21:00 -- Montpellier - Lille 1-0     highlights
90' + 4' Ait-Fana
21:00 -- Nancy - Saint-Etienne 3-2 (3-1)
21:00 -- Nice - Evian 1-1 (1-1)
21:00 -- Paris Saint Germain - Rennes 3-0     highlights
47' Luis de Carvalho Nene
58' Luis de Carvalho Nene
65' Luis de Carvalho Nene (pen.)

Current standings:
1 Montpellier  37 24 7 6 66-33 +33  79p
2 PSG  37 22 10 5 73-40 +33  76p
3 Lille  37 20 11 6 68-38 +30  71p
4 Lyon  37 19 7 11 61-47 +14  64p
5 Bordeaux  37 15 13 9 50-39 +11  58p



USA: Major League Soccer

18:30 -- Philadelphia Union - New York Red Bulls 2-3 (1-1)
01:00 -- San Jose Earthquakes - CD Chivas 1-1 (0-1)

Current standings:
Eastern Conference:
1 New York  11 7 1 3 23-16 +7  22p
2 Sporting KC  10 7 0 3 13-7 +6  21p
3 D.C United  12 5 3 4 20-16 +4  18p
4 Chicago Fire  9 4 3 2 11-10 +1  15p
5 New England  10 4 0 6 12-13 -1  12p
6 Montreal  11 3 3 5 12-16 -4  12p
Western Conference:
1 Real Salt Lake  13 8 2 3 19-12 +7  26p
2 San Jose  11 7 2 2 22-12 +10  23p
3 Seattle  10 7 1 2 13-4 +9  22p
4 Vancouver  10 5 2 3 10-11 -1  17p
5 Colorado  10 5 0 5 15-12 +3  15p
6 Dallas  12 3 3 6 11-18 -7  12p

Real's Season, into the History Books

100!

100 points from 38 matches. (Only 14 points dropped.) This, in quite possibly the best internal football league in the world.
Not even Barcelona could brag about this one.

The Chosen One did it again!

Mourinho alluded to the importance of the match against Mallorca, at a press conference before the last matchday of the Spanish Primera Division, when he said something along the lines "What if the team has a disastrous performance tomorrow, and the owner fires me?"
That just goes to show how important it was for the Madridistas to beat Barcelona's record of 99 points, after losing the chance to win the Champions League.

Real had no problems against Mallorca, winning 4-1. Ronaldo scored the first one, soon after a disallowed Higuain goal. Higuain was to score the second, thus also settling the half-time score. Ozil netted two more goals in the second half, with Mallorca reducing the deficit temporarily to 1-3.

After so many successes in previous seasons, this one turned out to be a really bad season for Barcelona. (They couldn't even win at Betis Sevilla, on the last matchday, either.) But maybe they can salvage something in the Copa del Rey final against Bilbao, the next Thursday.

Highlights from Real Madrid - Mallorca 4-1:

Real Madrid v Real Mallorca by speelsrap

Final standings (top two only):
1 Real Madrid  38 32 4 2 121-32 +89  100p
2 Barcelona  38 28 7 3 114-29 +85  91p

Crazy, Crazy Ending in the EPL Title Chase

After many instances in which Manchester United found itself on the winning side of last-gasp victories, most notably the Champions League final in 1999, their fans witnessed a monumental loss in extra time today.

Yes, Manchester United lost even the last trophy it could possibly win this year, the English Premier League title, after Manchester City players were able to score two goals after the 90th minute of their match against Queens Park Rangers (and one of these goals was actually scored after the conclusion of Man. U. 's game at Sunderland, as everybody who likes Man. U. was waiting to be able to start celebrating).

Speaking of which, this game, against Sunderland, did not seem to hang in the balance at all.
United for sure couldn't have scored 10, to be sure of a title win on goal difference (and maybe they should get some advice from Lyon on how to get teams - see Dinamo Zagreb - to step aside and lose at large goal differences), but they were always the team most likely to score next. At the end, also, they were just trying to pass the time safely, no doubt paying more attention to the game in Manchester than to their own exploits. Thus, in the last minutes, the Man. U. team was many times seen just passing the ball randomly so the time could run down quicker. And was that apathy, or what, from Sunderland?

QPR, though... totally different story! They did play the best game of their season, probably. And was there some compensation promised from United?
(I don't know.)

But, in my opinion, there was another factor that changed QPR a bit during the last few minutes of the match.
See, they were up 2-1. But Bolton, the team trailing QPR, was also winning 2-1, at Stoke. Man. City was missing chance after chance. And the QPR team maybe thought there was no way for City to score two goals when they could barely score one (with Zabaleta's goal even seeming to have gone in by accident) in almost eighty minutes.
And then it happened. In minute 77, Stoke City equalized against Bolton, and that score meant QPR no longer needed a win. A draw was not necessarily needed, either, anymore. And for sure QPR thought they would at least get a point against Man. City, considering how the game was going.

So, with the news from Stoke becoming known at the Etihad Stadium, Dzeko perhaps scored from amidst a bunch of players already thinking of their well-deserved vacations, and sure of their Premiership survival.
For sure, QPR did not want to lose, but I think Dzeko's goal discombobulated them.
Additionally, Aguero's goal was lucky, too, because Balotelli got an amazingly inspired touch of the ball, that fooled three QPR defenders, just as he was falling down, to set up Aguero's finish.

But all of that circus, and having their fans go from crying in despair to unexpected joy in extra time, should have totally been avoided.
Manchester City tortured their fans by almost letting slip away a win that they should have secured easily in the first place.
They were up 1-0 against the team with the worst away record in the Premier League. How do you screw that up? Well, Tevez and company, or should I say Lescott and Kompany, almost did. Cisse's and Mackie's goals should never have been.

Of course, in the end, City did very well to get back on track for the title, but it should have been way easier. That's all I'm saying.

Manchester City was certainly better than Manchester United this season. But they need to improve to win more titles, that's for sure. If they let another team come from behind, like this year, to secure an eight-point lead in the standings, with 6 matches to go, next year, for sure City won't come back to win the title in the same kind of dramatic fashion.

And yes, for those who give two cents, Bolton was the one relegated, not QPR, in spite of the amazing loss.

See highlights here.

By the way, Mark Hughes, QPR's coach said "Manchester City got lucky", not long after the match. A better commentary than anything Alex Ferguson had to say.

Juve Finishes Unbeaten

Their last game, at home against Atalanta, meant another victory for Conte's team.

Juventus - Atalanta 3-1
[1-0]  10' Luca Marrone
[2-0]  28' Alessandro Del Piero
[2-1]  83' Stephan Lichtsteiner (o.-g.)
[3-1]  90' Andrea Barzagli (pen.)

Final standings:
1 Juventus  38 23 15 0 68-20 +48  84p
2 Milan  38 24 8 6 74-33 +41  80p
3 Udinese  38 18 10 10 52-35 +17  64p
4 Lazio  38 18 8 12 56-47 +9  62p
5 Napoli  38 16 13 9 66-46 +20  61p

Juventus finishes the league with 0 losses!
Amazing.
How many people would have bet on them to achieve this, before the season started?

After this title win, Juventus now has 28 official titles. (2 were stripped away from them after Calciopoli.)

And I have to talk about that bad aspect of Juventus' title celebration, even though the positives of this season are perhaps more deserving of being analyzed.
I understand the Juventus officials want to put three stars on their equipment for next year. That symbolizes 3 x 10 titles won, and would mean that Juventus still does not want to accept the 2006 Calciopoli penalty as legitimate.

That is the wrong way to go, seriously.

The offense has been proven, it probably goes even deeper than what the evidence showed, and the new, hard-working Juventus people might be better off not peeling off old scars that took so long to heal.

Focus on the present, and on the good side of winning this title, I would dare to say, instead of trying to bring up an argument that you can't win!

Anyway, though, leaving that aside, Juve could win the Italian Cup, too. They're playing Napoli, in the final, next Sunday.

2012.05.12 - The Results

TURKEY: Super Lig, Championship Playoff

18:00 -- Fenerbahce - Galatasaray 0-0     highlights

Current Championship Group Play-Off standings:
1 Galatasaray  6 2 3 1 9-6 +3  48p
2 Fenerbahçe  6 4 1 1 9-4 +5  47p
3 Trabzonspor  6 1 2 3 5-10 -5  33p   (1-0 at home and 1-1 away in play-offs, 0-1 at home and 2-1 away in the regular season, against Besiktas)



GERMANY: DFB Pokal (Final)

20:00 -- Borussia D. - Bayern 5-2     highlights
[1-0]  3' Shinji Kagawa
[1-1]  25' Arjen Robben (pen.)
[2-1]  41' Mats Hummels (pen.)
[3-1]  45' + 1' Robert Lewandowski
[4-1]  58' Robert Lewandowski
[4-2]  76' Franck Ribery
[5-2]  81' Robert Lewandowski



USA: Major League Soccer

22:00 -- Montreal Impact - Los Angeles Galaxy 1-1 (1-0)
22:30 -- Houston Dynamo - D.C. United 1-0 (0-0)
01:30 -- Columbus Crew - Dallas 2-1 (0-1)
01:30 -- New England Revolution - Vancouver Whitecaps 4-1 (3-1)
02:30 -- Chicago Fire - Sporting Kansas City 2-1     highlights
[0-1]  31' Bobby Convey
[1-1]  61' Sebastian Grazzini (pen.)
[2-1]  81' Dominic Oduro
04:00 -- Seattle Sounders - Real Salt Lake 0-1
51' Fabian Espindola

Current standings:
Eastern Conference:
1 Sporting KC  10 7 0 3 13-7 +6  21p
2 New York  10 6 1 3 20-14 +6  19p
3 D.C United  12 5 3 4 20-16 +4  18p
4 Chicago Fire  9 4 3 2 11-10 +1  15p
5 New England  10 4 0 6 12-13 -1  12p
6 Montreal  11 3 3 5 12-16 -4  12p
Western Conference:
1 Real Salt Lake  13 8 2 3 19-12 +7  26p
2 San Jose  10 7 1 2 21-11 +10  22p
3 Seattle  10 7 1 2 13-4 +9  22p
4 Vancouver  10 5 2 3 10-11 -1  17p
5 Colorado  10 5 0 5 15-12 +3  15p
6 Dallas  12 3 3 6 11-18 -7  12p

Bayern Shows Big Weaknesses

Borussia Dortmund just beat Bayern Munich in the final of the German Cup.
And they did so in convincing fashion. 5-2. 3-1 at half-time.

Dortmund started strongly, and went ahead after just 3 minutes, through Shinji Kagawa, as the Bayern defense had no idea what hit them.
Bayern was lucky enough to get a penalty, 22 minutes later, because they probably couldn't have scored otherwise, a kick which Robben converted, but Borussia got a PK of their own fifteen minutes after that. This was also converted, despite Neuer's being able to deflect the ball a little.
Right before half-time, Bayern showed another huge lapse in defense, and Lewandowski scored his first goal with a good shot that sneaked in underneath Neuer.

The second half brought two more Lewandowski goals (in minutes 58 and 81), with only one Bayern goal to keep the difference between the two teams within three.
Ribery's goal, in the 76th minute, was very nice, and well-taken, but meaningless. Even though Heynckes' team hoped to reduce the deficit further, after that goal, Lewandowski's last goal on the night set them straight after just 5 minutes.

Bayern clearly is beneath Borussia, as far as playing football is concerned. Three losses in three encounters, against their Dortmund rivals, don't lie.

Maybe Bayern will play much better against Chelsea, in the UEFA Champions League final, next Saturday. But, if Bayern wins the CL, then a great injustice against football would be done. (It would be just like when inter got the trophy, in 2010. There must have been at least 3 other teams more deserving of the win, then, just like now.)

Not that Chelsea is turning heads in the Premier League, mind you, but at least they were not ridiculed in their encounters against the EPL giants (of this season), Man. City and Man. U.

Highlights:


Shorter highlights:

Borussia Dortmund 5 - 2 Bayern Munich footyroom... by Futbol2101

Galatasaray, Champion with Terim at the Helm

Last season, Galatasaray finished in a very disappointing eighth place.

But Fatih Terim took over, and now they're celebrating their 18th title. (So, Galatasaray is tied, in that regard, with Fenerbahce, as they both have 18 titles won. However, Fenerbahce's last title, last year, could have been stripped away from them, due to the match-fixing investigation, but wasn't.)

Anyway, Fenerbahce attacked more in today's match, but could not find the net. (They had to attack, because a point was enough for the Galata team.)

The biggest chance, in my opinion, came in minute 7, when many fans of Fenerbahce, for sure, had the illusion that the ball went in.

Galatasaray did not play badly, but Muslera, their goalkeeper, was probably their best man on the field.

After the match, seeing how the title was lost, the Fenerbahce fans went berserk.

They started destroying their own stadium, Sukru Saracoglu, by ripping the chairs, throwing them on the pitch, and throwing and crashing whatever else they could.
Fenerbahce did everything right, they attacked, they were a little bit better than Galatasaray on the night, but the only problem was the lack of good luck. For that, they paid and will pay. Literally.

Highlights:

Φενέρμπαχτσε - Γαλατάσαράι 0-0 by buitre9

Video of Fenerbahce fans rioting:


At the end, after the Fener fans were evacuated from the stadium, and they started rioting in the streets, the football officials were able to present the Galatasaray players with the trophy, in a deserted, pitch-black, almost totally silent stadium.
(You gotta wonder why they didn't wait, to do this trophy ceremony in front of a stadium full of Galatasaray fans?!...)

Chaos, Confusion and Corruption in the Romanian League

A very interesting incident happened on the 31st matchday of the Romanian Liga I. (There are 34 matchdays in this league, by the way.)

CFR Cluj, the leaders (by three points, at that time), were playing Universitatea Cluj, their local rivals, on the stadium of Universitatea.
Now, there should be no surprise that football teams from the same city, in Europe, generally hate each other. Because CFR won two league championships recently, in 2007-2008 and 2009-2010, after being promoted in the early 2000s, on top of being a local rival, while U. Cluj hasn't won any title, ever (despite being in the first league for way longer), and probably never will, the Universitatea radical fans have a deep, criminal hatred of anything CFR.

So, 25 minutes into the match, CFR gets a penalty, transformed into a goal by Cadu, a Portuguese defender. Cadu has the bad, for him, and for the match, idea to go and celebrate in front of the most fervent Universitatea supporters. He goes and does a little cheering right behind the U. Cluj goal, under a torrent of objects raining down from the stands.
The Universitatea goalkeeper, Bornescu, a big guy, significantly bigger than Cadu, sees what the Portuguese is doing, after scoring on him, and goes berserk.
So, he runs after Cadu, and starts beating him up.
After a while, some players hold him aside, while he keeps shouting he wants to kill Cadu, and that he'll beat him up later.

The referee, Alexandru Tudor, gives red to both players, and stops the match.

As the players go in the tunnels, a few more people, including somebody clearly from Universitatea's technical team (who would later be fired), again brutally attack Cadu, hitting him even from behind.
On that day, Cadu ended up in the hospital, and the entire CFR Cluj team had to be evacuated in the gendarmerie van.

This happens on Tuesday, May 8. The decision as to what would happen with this match belongs to a specialized football commission, which is to get together on Friday (yesterday) and decide.

A big confusion then ensues, as to what official decision could be made to fix the conundrum.
The rules in the Romanian league apparently can be interpreted in many ways, because here are four realistic options, all supposedly legitimate decisions that this body could take regarding the match. (And yes, the referee had decided that he wanted no more part of the match, on that night.)
1) CFR Cluj wins 3-0, because the way in which Universitatea organized the match put them in danger.
2) The game is played to the end, on another day, from minute 27 and 1-0 for CFR, which perhaps to a mild-mannered spectator seems like the most reasonable decision. (That is, if Universitatea Cluj should not be held accountable for the criminal attacks against Cadu.)
3) The game is played on another day, from 0-0, an option which seems really weird, but just wait and see why it was included.
4) Both teams lose by the score of 0-3, if it is determined that both teams broke the rules of the game.

But there are other factors here. There are powerful people who do not want CFR to win the title.
Four other teams, FC Vaslui, Steaua Bucharest, Rapid Bucharest and Dinamo Bucharest, are trailing CFR, with some chances at the title.

For decades, before the mid-2000s, the second and fourth teams mentioned above manipulated the Romanian league like their own pockets. This goes back into the Romanian communism days, as a matter of fact, to when one team was the army team, and the other was the police team.

Dinamo and steaua are supposed to be bitter rivals. But here's a picture of Steaua's owner, Gigi Becali, some kind of gangster who dreams of ruling the country and openly says he'll pay smaller teams that face his team's direct opponents (to take points away from said opponents, thus helping his team), and Dinamo's chief, Cristi Borcea, on the left, a guy who talks a lot but doesn't do enough, a published picture which surely does not help to support the theory that the two teams hate each other. (These guys should not go too close to each other, am I not right? Do you see Alex Ferguson putting his arm around, and posing for a nice picture with, Roman Abramovich, for example? What the hell?)

Anyway, these characters may just help each other to see that CFR loses as much ground as possible in the last matchdays. And surely they still have some connections inside these official federations commissions, certain relations stemming from the days when they were winning everything big.

So, what is the decision of this damn commission, already, you may ask?

Well, this well-oiled, know-it-all commission ends up deciding that referee Tudor should not have stopped the match, that the Universitatea goalkeeper and the CFR goalscorer are both equally guilty (because they both get suspended 2 matches), and that the game should be replayed from 0-0, before the end of the season. (And this would mean CFR would have to play 4 games in 9 days, including two major derbys.)

However, there are games scheduled every day, until May 19, with the exception of Friday, the 18th. But that's just 24 hours before CFR is supposed to play Steaua, at home, on the last matchday, a game which could decide the title.
So, the games (most of them, at least) of the final matchday are then postponed to Sunday, and the decision comes that U - CFR will, indeed, be played again on Friday, the 18th.

Naturally, the CFR organization feels that they were horribly wronged here, and they will appeal as far as the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.
After all, why shouldn't they? In any other league, there is little doubt that CFR would win the match, 3-0, based on what Universitatea, as the organizing club, permitted to happen. But this is Romania, where corruption still has deep roots, despite a few fairly honest seasons lately in Liga I.

However, the thing is, is there time to make these appeals before the replay? (That's in 5 days.) Or before the end of the championship (in 7-8 days)? And, if not, and the game is already played, will the Court of Arbitration mess with the internal organization of the Romanian league after the official closure of its 2011-2012 season?
(About 10 years ago, Rapid threatened to do that, in order to get the title away from steaua, but nothing materialized. If CFR loses this title, courtesy of what happens in the new game at Universitatea, can they get it back at Lausanne?...)

You could not see a scandal like this in any other league in the world, folks!

Only in Romania!...

2012.05.11 - The Result

TURKEY: Super Lig, Championship Playoff

19:00 -- Besiktas - Trabzonspor 1-1 (0-0)

Current Championship Group Play-Off standings:
1 Galatasaray  5 2 2 1 9-6 +3  47p
2 Fenerbahçe  5 4 0 1 9-4 +5  46p
3 Besiktas  6 1 2 3 5-8 -3  33p

2012.05.10 - The Results

FRANCE: Ligue 1

21:00 -- Evian - Lyon 1-3 (1-1)

Current standings:
1 Montpellier  36 23 7 6 65-33 +32  76p
2 PSG  36 21 10 5 70-40 +30  73p
3 Lille  36 20 11 5 68-37 +31  71p
4 Lyon  36 19 6 11 60-46 +14  63p
5 Rennes  36 16 9 11 48-41 +7  57p



UKRAINE: Premier League

15:30 -- Vorskla - Metalist 2-2 (1-2)
18:00 -- Volyn - Zorya 2-2 (1-2)
18:00 -- Chornomorets - Obolon 1-0 (0-0)
18:00 -- Ilichevets - Metalurh D. 2-1 (0-0)
18:00 -- Kryvbas - Arsenal Kyiv 0-2 (0-0)
18:00 -- Dnipro - Karpaty 2-0 (0-0)
18:00 -- Shakhtar - Oleksandriya 3-0
14' Willian
28' Henrikh Mkhitaryan
57' Yevhen Seleznov
18:00 -- Dynamo - Tavriya 1-1
[1-0]  16' Artem Milevskyi
[1-1]  87' Marin Lubicic

Final standings:
1 Shakhtar Donetsk  30 25 4 1 80-18 +62  79p
2 Dynamo Kyiv  30 23 6 1 56-12 +44  75p
3 Metalist Kharkiv  30 16 11 3 54-32 +22  59p

2012.05.09 - The Results

EUROPA LEAGUE: Final

20:45 -- Atletico Madrid - Athletic Bilbao 3-0     highlights
7' Radamel Falcao
34' Radamel Falcao
85' Diego



USA: Major League Soccer

01:00 -- New York Red Bulls - Houston Dynamo 1-0 (1-0)
02:30 -- Chicago Fire - Real Salt Lake 0-0
02:30 -- Dallas - Seattle Sounders 0-2 (0-0)

Current standings:
Eastern Conference:
1 Sporting KC  9 7 0 2 12-5 +7  21p
2 New York  10 6 1 3 20-14 +6  19p
3 D.C United  11 5 3 3 20-15 +5  18p
4 Chicago Fire  8 3 3 2 9-9 0  12p
5 Montreal  10 3 2 5 11-15 -4  11p
6 New England  9 3 0 6 8-12 -4  9p
Western Conference:
1 Real Salt Lake  12 7 2 3 18-12 +6  23p
2 San Jose  10 7 1 2 21-11 +10  22p
3 Seattle  9 7 1 1 13-3 +10  22p
4 Vancouver  9 5 2 2 9-7 +2  17p
5 Colorado  10 5 0 5 15-12 +3  15p
6 Dallas  11 3 3 5 10-16 -6  12p

Atletico Madrid Wins Europa League

One team from Madrid won a cup this year.

Atletico Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao, 3-0, in Bucharest, in the final of this year 's Europa League.

The win came largely thanks to the brilliant goals of Radamel Falcao, in the first half (in minutes 7 and 34), who made the Bilbao defenders look like amateurs.
Falcao was declared the man of the match. No surprise there.

But Athletic's defense really wasn't up to par in this one match.

Diego showed that maybe Falcao's mission was made a lot easier by the performances of the opposing defenders, by ridiculing them one more time, with five minutes left in the match, to score Atletico's third goal.

I, and probably a lot of other people, too, expected much better from Athletic Bilbao.

Highlights:

Atletico Madrid v Athletic Bilbao by poinyoo

2012.05.08 - The Result

ENGLAND: Barclays Premiership

21:00 -- Liverpool - Chelsea 4-1 (3-0)

Current standings:
1 Manchester City  37 27 5 5 90-27 +63  86p
2 Manchester United  37 27 5 5 88-33 +55  86p
3 Arsenal  37 20 7 10 71-47 +24  67p
4 Tottenham Hotspur  37 19 9 9 64-41 +23  66p
5 Newcastle  37 19 8 10 55-48 +7  65p

2012.05.07 - The Results

FRANCE: Ligue 1

19:00 -- Auxerre - Bordeaux 2-4 (0-3)
19:00 -- Lille - Caen 3-0     highlights
26' Tulio De Melo (pen.)
36' Tulio De Melo
60' Dimitri Payet
19:00 -- Lorient - Dijon 0-0
19:00 -- Saint-Etienne - Marseille 0-0
19:00 -- Sochaux - Nancy 1-0 (0-0)
19:00 -- Toulouse - Nice 0-0
21:00 -- Rennes - Montpellier 0-2     highlights
26' Souleymane Camara
52' Remy Cabella

Current standings:
1 Montpellier  36 23 7 6 65-33 +32  76p
2 PSG  36 21 10 5 70-40 +30  73p
3 Lille  36 20 11 5 68-37 +31  71p
4 Lyon  35 18 6 11 57-45 +12  60p
5 Rennes  36 16 9 11 48-41 +7  57p



ENGLAND: Barclays Premiership

21:00 -- Blackburn - Wigan 0-1 (0-0)

Current standings:
1 Manchester City  37 27 5 5 90-27 +63  86p
2 Manchester United  37 27 5 5 88-33 +55  86p
3 Arsenal  37 20 7 10 71-47 +24  67p
4 Tottenham Hotspur  37 19 9 9 64-41 +23  66p
5 Newcastle  37 19 8 10 55-48 +7  65p

2012.05.06 - The Results

ITALY: Serie A

12:30 -- Siena - Parma 0-2 (0-0)
15:00 -- Atalanta - Lazio 0-2 (0-1)
15:00 -- Bologna - Napoli 2-0 (1-0)     highlights
15:00 -- Novara - Cesena 3-0 (1-0)
15:00 -- Palermo - Chievo 4-4 (2-2)
15:00 -- Udinese - Genoa 2-0 (1-0)     highlights
20:45 -- Cagliari - Juventus 0-2     highlights
6' Mirko Vucinic
74' Marco Borriello
20:45 -- Inter - Milan 4-2     highlights
[1-0]  14' Diego Milito
[1-1]  44' Zlatan Ibrahimovic (pen.)
[1-2]  46' Zlatan Ibrahimovic
[2-2]  52' Diego Milito (pen.)
[3-2]  79' Diego Milito (pen.)
[4-2]  87' Maicon

Current standings:
1 Juventus  37 22 15 0 65-19 +46  81p
2 Milan  37 23 8 6 72-32 +40  77p
3 Udinese  37 17 10 10 50-35 +15  61p
4 Lazio  37 17 8 12 53-46 +7  59p
5 Napoli  37 15 13 9 64-45 +19  58p



ENGLAND: Barclays Premiership

14:30 -- Newcastle - Manchester City 0-2     highlights
70' Yaya Toure
89' Yaya Toure
15:00 -- Aston Villa - Tottenham 1-1 (1-0)
15:00 -- Bolton - West Brom 2-2 (1-0)
15:00 -- Fulham - Sunderland 2-1 (2-1)
15:00 -- QPR - Stoke City 1-0 (0-0)
15:00 -- Wolves - Everton 0-0
17:00 -- Manchester Utd. - Swansea 2-0     highlights
28' Paul Scholes
41' Ashley Young

Current standings:
1 Manchester City  37 27 5 5 90-27 +63  86p
2 Manchester United  37 27 5 5 88-33 +55  86p
3 Arsenal  37 20 7 10 71-47 +24  67p
4 Tottenham Hotspur  37 19 9 9 64-41 +23  66p
5 Newcastle  37 19 8 10 55-48 +7  65p



TURKEY: Super Lig, Championship Playoff

18:00 -- Galatasaray - Besiktas 2-2
[1-0]  9' Felipe Melo
[2-0]  45' Hugo Almeida (o.-g.)
[2-1]  86' Filip Holosko
[2-2]  88' Tomas Ujfalusi (o.-g.)
18:00 -- Trabzonspor - Fenerbahce 1-3
[0-1]  3' Emre Belozoglu
[0-2]  32' Henri Bienvenu
[1-2]  45' + 3' Burak Yilmaz
[1-3]  84' Cristian Baroni

Current Championship Group Play-Off standings:
1 Galatasaray  5 2 2 1 9-6 +3  47p
2 Fenerbahçe  5 4 0 1 9-4 +5  46p
3 Besiktas  5 1 1 3 4-7 -3  32p



FRANCE: Ligue 1

17:00 -- Evian Thonon Gaillard - Ajaccio 2-1 (1-1)
17:00 -- Lyon - Brest 1-1 (1-0)
21:15 -- Valenciennes - Paris Saint Germain 3-4
[1-0]  8' Vincent Aboubakar
[2-0]  11' Remi Gomis
[2-1]  15' Luis de Carvalho Nene
[2-2]  40' Maxwell
[2-3]  45' Blaise Matuidi
[2-4]  58' Jeremy Menez
[3-4]  80' Renaud Cohade

Current standings:
1 PSG  36 21 10 5 70-40 +30  73p
2 Montpellier  35 22 7 6 63-33 +30  73p
3 Lille  35 19 11 5 65-37 +28  68p
4 Lyon  35 18 6 11 57-45 +12  60p
5 Rennes  35 16 9 10 48-39 +9  57p



USA: Major League Soccer

01:00 -- Dallas - Colorado Rapids 0-2 (0-0)

Current standings:
Eastern Conference:
1 Sporting KC  9 7 0 2 12-5 +7  21p
2 D.C United  11 5 3 3 20-15 +5  18p
3 New York  9 5 1 3 19-14 +5  16p
4 Chicago Fire  7 3 2 2 9-9 0  11p
5 Montreal  10 3 2 5 11-15 -4  11p
6 New England  9 3 0 6 8-12 -4  9p
Western Conference:
1 San Jose  10 7 1 2 21-11 +10  22p
2 Real Salt Lake  11 7 1 3 18-12 +6  22p
3 Seattle  8 6 1 1 11-3 +8  19p
4 Vancouver  9 5 2 2 9-7 +2  17p
5 Colorado  10 5 0 5 15-12 +3  15p
6 Dallas  10 3 3 4 10-14 -4  12p

Juve Takes Advantage

Juventus became the Italian champion for season 2011-2012 today.

The team from Turin won, 2-0, away, at Cagliari, and was able to celebrate the title win after this second-to-last match because Milan lost and the difference in the standings between the two teams is now 4 points with one match left.

Juventus showed good form against Cagliari, scoring through Vucinic (in minute 6) and Borriello (74), and making their fans forget about the two points dropped against Lecce a week ago.

AC Milan, on the other hand, began by conceding the first goal to Inter in the 14th minute. (That was the first of four they would concede! Pathetic, isn't it?! That was, essentially, the difference between the two title contenders: How they fared against inter: Juventus, 6 points; Milan, 0. And there goes the title.)
Although Ibrahimovic brought Milan level before the interval, and even put them ahead in minute 46, that was all Milan could muster. Inter got two penalties, and the lead again, by the 79th minute. And then, close to the end, Maicon made sure Milan was down for the count (and out of the title race).

So, Juventus finally succeeds in winning a Scudetto after the Calciopoli scandal.

Was it deserved? Probably so.
And the unbeaten run sure is very impressive.

Highlights from Cagliari - Juventus 0-2:


Highlights from Inter - Milan 4-2:

Home Playoff Form... Better?!

No, of course not.
Not for the Turkish leaders.

Galatasaray could not win their third home play-off game, either: 2-2, at home, against Besiktas, with the two goals scored by the guests coming in minutes 86 and 88!

Unbelievable and pathetic!

Still, despite all that, and even though Fenerbahce won today, Galatasaray remains top of the table.
Actually, considering Fenerbahce's win at Trabzonspor, even if Galatasaray had won, Cim Bom would have still had to achieve the same result they have to achieve now, to win the league.
And that is? Well, they have to not lose away to Fenerbahce, in the very last match.

Manchester City, Champion?

Well, after seeing how they played against Manchester United and Newcastle United, I have to say Manchester City did wake up at the right time, and should win the Premier League this year.

They have one match left, against Queens Park Rangers, at home, and if they win that game, they should win the title. And they should win that game, because QPR is certainly a weaker team than Newcastle.

Of course, Man. U. could also win by a margin nine goals larger than City's win margin, away at Sunderland, and get the title, but how likely is that to happen?
(Example of scorelines that could give Manchester U. the title if both teams win:
Man. City - QPR 2-1
Sunderland - Man. U. 0-10
...Not gonna happen, right?)

Queens Park Rangers is still in danger of being relegated, though, despite beating Stoke on this matchday, and could go down if they lose in Manchester on Sunday, if wigan picks up at least one point from their last two matches and Bolton wins away at Stoke City on the last matchday.
So, it's not like QPR has nothing to play for.

But City can only blame themselves if they screw this up. Who knows when they'll get another chance like this one?

2012.05.05 - The Results

ENGLAND: FA Cup

18:15 -- Liverpool - Chelsea 1-2     highlights
[0-1]  10' Ramires
[0-2]  52' Didier Drogba
[1-2]  64' Andrew Carroll



ENGLAND: Barclays Premiership

13:45 -- Arsenal - Norwich 3-3 (1-2)     highlights

Current standings:
1 Manchester City  36 26 5 5 88-27 +61  83p
2 Manchester United  36 26 5 5 86-33 +53  83p
3 Arsenal  37 20 7 10 71-47 +24  67p
4 Tottenham Hotspur  36 19 8 9 63-40 +23  65p
5 Newcastle  36 19 8 9 55-46 +9  65p



USA: Major League Soccer

22:00 -- Toronto FC - D.C. United 0-2 (0-0)
22:30 -- Seattle Sounders - Philadelphia Union 1-0 (0-0)
01:00 -- Vancouver Whitecaps - San Jose Earthquakes 2-1
[0-1]  15' Chris Wondolowski
[1-1]  40' Gershon Koffie
[2-1]  90' Eric Hassli
02:00 -- Los Angeles Galaxy - New York Red Bulls 0-1 (0-1)
02:30 -- Sporting Kansas City - Montreal Impact 0-2
30' Felipe Martins
64' Patrice Bernier (pen.)
03:00 -- Real Salt Lake - New England Revolution 2-1 (1-1)
04:30 -- Portland Timbers - Columbus Crew 0-0

Current standings:
Eastern Conference:
1 Sporting KC  9 7 0 2 12-5 +7  21p
2 D.C United  11 5 3 3 20-15 +5  18p
3 New York  9 5 1 3 19-14 +5  16p
4 Chicago Fire  7 3 2 2 9-9 0  11p
5 Montreal  10 3 2 5 11-15 -4  11p
6 New England  9 3 0 6 8-12 -4  9p
Western Conference:
1 San Jose  10 7 1 2 21-11 +10  22p
2 Real Salt Lake  11 7 1 3 18-12 +6  22p
3 Seattle  8 6 1 1 11-3 +8  19p
4 Vancouver  9 5 2 2 9-7 +2  17p
5 Colorado  9 4 0 5 13-12 +1  12p
6 Dallas  9 3 3 3 10-12 -2  12p



ITALY: Serie A

18:00 -- Lecce - Fiorentina 0-1 (0-1)
20:45 -- Roma - Catania 2-2 (0-0)

Current standings:
1 Juventus  36 21 15 0 63-19 +44  78p
2 Milan  36 23 8 5 70-28 +42  77p
3 Napoli  36 15 13 8 64-43 +21  58p
4 Udinese  36 16 10 10 48-35 +13  58p
5 Lazio  36 16 8 12 51-46 +5  56p

Real, Towards 100?

Real won again. They beat Granada, away, 2-1.

It was very hard for Real, though. They were down 0-1, from minute 5 to minute 81.
After Ronaldo was tackled in the penalty area, in the 79th minute, he also converted the penalty. (But, even though he has 45 goals for the season, he probably won't win the Pachichi, because Messi scored four more times in the game against Espanyol, won 4-0 by Barca, to make it 50 for the Argentinian, on the season.)
But the great ending, as far as the guests are concerned, and the main reason for this blog post, came when defender Cortes put the ball in his own net, in minute 93, following a desperate cross by the Madrid players. I guess he never expected the ball to reach his feet, or something, judging by how unprepared his footwork was when he touched the ball.

The hosts desperately needed a good result to try to ensure staying up in the Primera Division, yes.
Now, Real put them in danger of going down, if they lose to Rayo Vallecano, and Zaragoza wins, too, next week.

But, most importantly, Real also put themselves in the position of winning the title with a record number of points (100!) if they just beat Mallorca, at home, on the last matchday of the season.

See highlights here.

FA Cup Final and Goal-Line Technology

It was perhaps expected that Chelsea should beat Liverpool in the FA Cup final, considering that Chelsea was able to reach the Champions League final (and without losing any of their two matches played against Barcelona), but there was a specific incident that again brings up the goal-line technology discussion.

At 2-1 for Chelsea, Any Carroll of Liverpool had a nice header saved -- or maybe it actually did go in, like Carroll claimed!?!... - by Petr Cech in the 82nd minute of the final.

The referee was not sure if it was a goal or not, probably the linesman was also unsure, and not even the replays made it completely clear to the viewer whether that was or was not a goal. (The ball must pass the goal line with its entire circumference, for the goal to be given.)

Probably, some device on the goal line could have made it clear whether that was a goal or not.
But they've been talking about this stuff for years now. When the hell are they going to actually implement it? Because it's obvious that it's needed.

In the match itself, Chelsea went up 2-0, after Ramires' goal in minute 10, and Drogba's cool finish early in the second half (52).
And everything seemed to be going well for Di Matteo's men. But then Liverpool woke up.
Not long after Chelsea had an opportunity to make it 3-0, Carroll reduced the deficit following collective bad defending from the Londoners.

If Carroll's potential goal - and, in my opinion, I would lean towards saying that was a good goal, but I agree with the commentator who said something along the lines "If the referee is not absolutely sure, he should not give the goal" - stood, then it would have been 2-2, and extra time would have been a very big possibility.
So, the Liverpool men should be really frustrated, yes. It's understandable.

See highlights here.

2012.05.04 - The Result

USA: Major League Soccer

05:00 -- CD Chivas USA - Chicago Fire 1-2 (1-1)

Current standings:
Eastern Conference:
1 Sporting KC  8 7 0 1 12-3 +9  21p
2 D.C United  10 4 3 3 18-15 +3  15p
3 New York  8 4 1 3 18-14 +4  13p
4 Chicago Fire  7 3 2 2 9-9 0  11p
5 New England  8 3 0 5 7-10 -3  9p
6 Houston Dynamo  6 2 2 2 7-8 -1  8p
Western Conference:
1 San Jose  9 7 1 1 20-9 +11  22p
2 Real Salt Lake  10 6 1 3 16-11 +5  19p
3 Seattle  7 5 1 1 10-3 +7  16p
4 Vancouver  8 4 2 2 7-6 +1  14p
5 Colorado  9 4 0 5 13-12 +1  12p
6 Dallas  9 3 3 3 10-12 -2  12p

2012.05.03 - The Results

TURKEY: Super Lig, Championship Playoff

19:00 -- Besiktas - Fenerbahce 1-0
45' Hugo Almeida

Current Championship Group Play-Off standings:
1 Galatasaray  4 2 1 1 7-4 +3  46p
2 Fenerbahçe  4 3 0 1 6-3 +3  43p
3 Trabzonspor  4 1 1 2 3-6 -3  32p



FRANCE: Ligue 1

19:00 -- Dijon - Auxerre 0-2 (0-1)

Current standings:
1 Montpellier  35 22 7 6 63-33 +30  73p
2 PSG  35 20 10 5 66-37 +29  70p
3 Lille  35 19 11 5 65-37 +28  68p
4 Lyon  34 18 5 11 56-44 +12  59p
5 Rennes  35 16 9 10 48-39 +9  57p

Deja Vu

Remember, on the first and second of February, when Galatasaray again dropped precious points at home (- that time the draw was against Antalyaspor -), first, only to see Fenerbahce respond, the following day, by losing to Samsunspor?

Well, practically the same thing happened yesterday and today.

After Galatasaray drew, at home, 0-0, against Trabzonspor, all Fenerbahce had to do was win to pull even. But they did not win. Just like in February, Fenerbahce lost exactly when they needed to win the most.

Hugo Almeida scored, for Besiktas, on the stroke of half-time, and that was all the scoring on the night.

What a huge break Galatasaray got here!
Very weak from Fenerbahce.

With two matches left, Fenerbahce remains 3 points behind Galatasaray. But the remaining direct encounter between the two teams is scheduled to take place at Fenerbahce's stadium (which I don't know if it's a huge plus for the hosts, considering that Galatasaray seems to be doing way better away from home lately).

2012.05.02 - The Results

UKRAINE: Premier League

15:30 -- Arsenal Kyiv - Volyn 3-0 (0-0)
15:30 -- Metalurh D. - Dnipro 0-3 (0-2)
15:30 -- Tavriya - Vorskla 0-2 (0-1)
18:00 -- Oleksandriya - Chornomorets 1-3 (1-2)
18:00 -- Karpaty - Kryvbas 2-0 (0-0)
18:00 -- Metalist - Shakhtar 1-2
[1-0]  11' Sebastian Blanco
[1-1]  36' Luiz Adriano
[1-2]  50' Fernandinho
18:00 -- Obolon - Ilichevets 0-0
18:00 -- Zorya - Dynamo 0-0

Current standings:
1 Shakhtar Donetsk  29 24 4 1 77-18 +59  76p
2 Dynamo Kyiv  29 23 5 1 55-11 +44  74p
3 Metalist Kharkiv  29 16 10 3 52-30 +22  58p



ITALY: Serie A

20:45 -- Catania - Bologna 0-1 (0-0)
20:45 -- Cesena - Udinese 0-1 (0-1)     highlights
20:45 -- Fiorentina - Novara 2-2 (0-2)
20:45 -- Genoa - Cagliari 2-1 (1-1)
20:45 -- Juventus - Lecce 1-1     highlights
[1-0]  8' Mirko Vucinic
[1-1]  85' Andrea Bertolacci
20:45 -- Lazio - Siena 1-1 (0-1)     highlights
20:45 -- Milan - Atalanta 2-0     highlights
9' Sulley Muntari
90' + 2' Robinho
20:45 -- Parma - Inter 3-1 (0-1)     highlights

Current standings:
1 Juventus  36 21 15 0 63-19 +44  78p
2 Milan  36 23 8 5 70-28 +42  77p
3 Napoli  36 15 13 8 64-43 +21  58p
4 Udinese  36 16 10 10 48-35 +13  58p
5 Lazio  36 16 8 12 51-46 +5  56p



TURKEY: Super Lig, Championship Playoff

19:00 -- Galatasaray - Trabzonspor 0-0

Current Championship Group Play-Off standings:
1 Galatasaray  4 2 1 1 7-4 +3  46p
2 Fenerbahçe  3 3 0 0 6-2 +4  43p
3 Trabzonspor  4 1 1 2 3-6 -3  32p



FRANCE: Ligue 1

19:00 -- Ajaccio - Sochaux 2-1 (0-0)
19:00 -- Bordeaux - Rennes 2-0 (0-0)     highlights
19:00 -- Brest - Toulouse 0-0
19:00 -- Caen - Lorient 1-0 (0-0)
19:00 -- Lyon - Valenciennes 4-1 (1-1)
19:00 -- Marseille - Nancy 1-0 (1-0)
19:00 -- Nice - Lille 0-1     highlights
6' Tulio De Melo
21:00 -- Paris Saint-Germain - Saint-Etienne 2-0     highlights
21' Luis de Carvalho Nene (pen.)
88' Javier Pastore

Current standings:
1 Montpellier  35 22 7 6 63-33 +30  73p
2 PSG  35 20 10 5 66-37 +29  70p
3 Lille  35 19 11 5 65-37 +28  68p
4 Lyon  34 18 5 11 56-44 +12  59p
5 Rennes  35 16 9 10 48-39 +9  57p


ENGLAND: Barclays Premiership

20:45 -- Chelsea - Newcastle 0-2     highlights
19' Papiss Demba Cisse
90' + 3' Papiss Demba Cisse
21:00 -- Bolton - Tottenham 1-4 (0-1)

Current standings:
1 Manchester City  36 26 5 5 88-27 +61  83p
2 Manchester United  36 26 5 5 86-33 +53  83p
3 Arsenal  36 20 6 10 68-44 +24  66p
4 Tottenham Hotspur  36 19 8 9 63-40 +23  65p
5 Newcastle  36 19 8 9 55-46 +9  65p



SPAIN: Primera Division

18:00 -- Atletico Madrid - Real Sociedad 1-1 (0-0)
20:00 -- Barcelona - Malaga 4-1     highlights
[1-0]  14' Carlos Puyol
[1-1]  26' Jose Salomon Rondon
[2-1]  35' Lionel Andres Messi (pen.)
[3-1]  39' Lionel Andres Messi (pen.)
[4-1]  64' Lionel Andres Messi
20:00 -- Sevilla - Betis 1-2 (1-1)
20:00 -- Mallorca - Rayo Vallecano 1-0 (0-0)
20:00 -- Zaragoza - Levante 1-0 (1-0)
22:00 -- Valencia - Osasuna 4-0 (0-0)
22:00 -- Athletic - Real Madrid 0-3     highlights
x - 12' Cristiano Ronaldo (m. pen. Real) - x
16' Gonzalo Higuain
20' Mesut Ozil
50' Cristiano Ronaldo

Current standings:
1 Real Madrid  36 30 4 2 115-30 +85  94p
2 Barcelona  36 27 6 3 108-27 +81  87p
3 Valencia  36 16 10 10 58-43 +15  58p
4 Malaga  36 16 7 13 52-51 +1  55p
5 Levante  36 15 7 14 51-49 +2  52p



NETHERLANDS: Eredivisie

20:00 -- Ajax - VV Venlo 2-0     highlights
8' Siem de Jong
59' Siem de Jong
20:00 -- PSV - ADO Den Haag 5-0
22' Jeremain Lens
38' Ola Toivonen
62' Ola Toivonen
66' Zakaria Labyad
88' Dries Mertens
20:00 -- Utrecht - Vitesse 2-2 (1-1)
20:00 -- Twente - Heerenveen 3-4     highlights
[1-0]  5' Luuk de Jong
[2-0]  20' Luuk de Jong
[2-1]  22' Bas Dost
[2-2]  63' Oussama Assaidi
[2-3]  79' Luciano Narsingh
[2-4]  83' Oussama Assaidi
[3-4]  90' Douglas
20:00 -- Groningen - NAC Breda 1-1 (0-1)
20:00 -- De Graafschap - Excelsior 2-2 (1-1)
20:00 -- RKC Waalwijk - Roda 5-2 (4-1)
20:00 -- Feyenoord - Heracles Almelo 4-1     highlights
[1-0]  10' Otman Bakkal
[2-0]  53' Jerson Cabral
[3-0]  64' Sekou Cisse
[4-0]  65' Ruben Schaken
[4-1]  72' Willie Overtoom
20:00 -- NEC Nijmegen - AZ Alkmaar 1-1
[1-0]  14' Navarone Foor
[1-1]  59' Ruud Boymans

Current standings:
1 Ajax Amsterdam  33 22 7 4 90-35 +55  73p
2 Feyenoord  33 20 7 6 67-35 +32  67p
3 PSV Eindhoven  33 20 6 7 84-46 +38  66p



USA: Major League Soccer

02:00 -- New England Revolution - Colorado Rapids 2-1 (2-1)
04:00 -- Seattle Sounders - Los Angeles Galaxy 2-0 (1-0)
04:30 -- San Jose Earthquakes - D.C. United 5-3     highlights
[0-1]  8' Dwayne De Rosario
[1-1]  19' Steven Lenhart
[2-1]  21' Chris Wondolowski
[3-1]  31' Justin Morrow
[3-2]  65' Daniel Woolard
[4-2]  70' Chris Wondolowski
[5-2]  74' Steven Lenhart
[5-3]  89' Hamdi Salihi

Current standings:
Eastern Conference:
1 Sporting KC  8 7 0 1 12-3 +9  21p
2 D.C United  10 4 3 3 18-15 +3  15p
3 New York  8 4 1 3 18-14 +4  13p
4 New England  8 3 0 5 7-10 -3  9p
5-6 Chicago Fire  6 2 2 2 7-8 -1  8p
5-6 Houston Dynamo  6 2 2 2 7-8 -1  8p
Western Conference:
1 San Jose  9 7 1 1 20-9 +11  22p
2 Real Salt Lake  10 6 1 3 16-11 +5  19p
3 Seattle  7 5 1 1 10-3 +7  16p
4 Vancouver  8 4 2 2 7-6 +1  14p
5 Colorado  9 4 0 5 13-12 +1  12p
6 Dallas  9 3 3 3 10-12 -2  12p