The title of this post may seem pompous to non-Croatians or anyone not familiar with English Premier League or Croatian soccer, but when you see how Luka Modric plays and when you see how well the five Croatian players that already play in the EPL perform, you would probably think differently.
Ever since Croatia defeated England twice in Euro 2008 qualifying with scores of 2-0 in Zagreb and 3-2 in London (with an aggregate score of 5-2), there was an uproar among the English and believe it or not, it was not against the Croats as many English fans are known for blaming the other team for their national team's failures. Instead, it was actually against their own players and of course former coach Steve McClaren who was fired by the English Football Association the day after the embarrassing defeat forcing England to rebuild. English players even went as low as trying to blame their own fans for the "pressure" that they put on them. One of these players was Michael Owen. Some English fans even jumped on the Croatian bandwagon. One such fan is Kevin McCarra, a fellow blogger, who wrote one blog post titled "How to build a decent team? Follow Croatia's lead" which I am not going to get into too much detail here (just read his blog).
Americans that religiously follow soccer (and believe it or not there are quite a few of them) watch whatever Fox Soccer Channel spits out them. If you know anything about the games they show, it is only the leagues of the British isles as well national team games from these British national teams (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and sometimes Ireland), MLS, Brazil, USA, and some occasional games from Italian league and Champions League and others that I can't think of from the top of my head. Being that this is one of the few soccer channels that actually broadcasts in the United States, most American soccer fans blindly follow England when it comes to another international team other than Team USA. One such fan is a youtuber with the name kurtmac who released these two videos when previewing the final Scotland qualifying matches and the England-Croatia qualifying finale for Euro 2008.
Now I'm not the kind of person that would go and attack this person's video. It is his right to follow and root for the English national team, and I really respect him for going against the typical American soccer fan who celebrate English soccer as if they can do no wrong and putting up this follow-up video after the match.
He then posted this video about Croatian Christmas traditions (most of which I didn't even know), but the fact that he took the time to research this, makes me think that these fans aren't ignorant. I know this isn't soccer video, but I thought I would post it anyway.
In a more recent video posted this month, kurtmac does admit that he will support Croatia in Euro 2008 and said he will compile a video on the Euro 2008 so I will talk more about this when this video is posted.
Now, back to Luka Modric, the latest of the Croatian players to play in the English Premier League. After the game against England, Modric returned to Zagreb to play the rest of the season with his club Dinamo Zagreb. As he was interviewed by a Croatian reporter, he hinted that he would be willing very soon to sign on to a club in much better European league. Well that time has come, and even though I am dissapointed to see this 22 year old soccer prodigy leave one of my favorite Croatian clubs, he will definitely come back with more experience for the national team.
According to this article from the Canadian Press, Modric signed a contract with Tottenham, a lesser known English Premier League Club that has not been doing too well lately. Modric was also linked in negotiations with Arsenal, Chelsea, and Newscastle, but his move to Tottenham has become official. He will make his move to the London-based club during the off-season if he passes a physicalland obtains a English working permit. The club has not revealed how much they will give him, but Croatian television has said that he will sign a five year contract and that he is worth about 26 million euros. This makes him Tottenham's and Croatia's most expensive player. I will provide more information regarding this big news later as more information becomes available. I will now end this post with a few videos from youtube featuring Modric.
Video of him previewing/watching a Tottenham match in the stands (as shown on Croatian television) during a trip to sign his contract this past Saturday
First interview in England regarding his new contract
A Video of some of his many goals
A video tribute to Modric
Interview and Background aired on English television
Monday, April 28, 2008
Will Aston Villa keep goalkeeper Scott Carson?
English Premier League Club Aston Villa is currently unsure regarding whether or not they will keep goalkeeper Scott Carson on the squad for the rest of the season, according to this article from itv.com.
According to the article, "manager Martin O'Neill will make no decision on whether he wants to keep on-loan Liverpool goalkeeper Scott Carson permanently until the end of the season."
Carson is the reserve goalkeeper for the English national team responsible for letting in all three goals that caused Croatia's embarrassing defeat and elimination of England in Euro 2008 qualifying paving the way for Russia to qualify along with Croatia from their group. Here is a video showing Croatia's goals (be sure to look closely at the major mistakes Carson had made in this match as well as what the English commentators say):
This and other videos that I have see from the English and commentators are the first I have seen that ever had the English media criticizing English players.
Ever since this match, Carson, according to the article, had to "overcome a sticky spell following his confidence-sapping error" in this game for his national team and his troubles aren't over. Despite his low confidence, he continued with Aston Villa to help them "push for a UEFA Cup spot." (the UEFA Cup for those that don't know is somewhat of a consolation tournament for rejects of the Champions League.
Currently 22 years old, Carson still has to "sort out his future" and seems to have hopped from club to club. Only staying with clubs on a temporary basis.
However, the decision regarding whether or not he will stay does not rest with him, but on the clubs that deal with his contract. This lies more on the manager and coaching staff of Liverpool, the club that he currently has a contract with and is only on-loan to Aston Villa.
For more information regarding Scott Carson, see the link above.
According to the article, "manager Martin O'Neill will make no decision on whether he wants to keep on-loan Liverpool goalkeeper Scott Carson permanently until the end of the season."
Carson is the reserve goalkeeper for the English national team responsible for letting in all three goals that caused Croatia's embarrassing defeat and elimination of England in Euro 2008 qualifying paving the way for Russia to qualify along with Croatia from their group. Here is a video showing Croatia's goals (be sure to look closely at the major mistakes Carson had made in this match as well as what the English commentators say):
This and other videos that I have see from the English and commentators are the first I have seen that ever had the English media criticizing English players.
Ever since this match, Carson, according to the article, had to "overcome a sticky spell following his confidence-sapping error" in this game for his national team and his troubles aren't over. Despite his low confidence, he continued with Aston Villa to help them "push for a UEFA Cup spot." (the UEFA Cup for those that don't know is somewhat of a consolation tournament for rejects of the Champions League.
Currently 22 years old, Carson still has to "sort out his future" and seems to have hopped from club to club. Only staying with clubs on a temporary basis.
However, the decision regarding whether or not he will stay does not rest with him, but on the clubs that deal with his contract. This lies more on the manager and coaching staff of Liverpool, the club that he currently has a contract with and is only on-loan to Aston Villa.
For more information regarding Scott Carson, see the link above.
Croatian striker Ivan Klasnic might sue his own club's medical team
According to this article from Sporting Life, Croatian striker Ivan Klasnic, who plays for Werder Bremen in Germany's popular Bundesliga, "is attempting to sue the club's medical team, who he believes could have prevented a kidney transplant in March 2007."
Klasnic thinks that club doctor Gotz Dimanski and cardiologist Manju Guha might have been able to prevent his operation if they had been able to diagnose the problem earlier.
The 28 year old Klansic commented: "If the doctors had treated me correctly then things would have gone differently...The people who have created this mess will have to pay. Enough is enough now, the truth must come out."
According to Spiegel, a German managzine, the young player is suing the medical team for 1.4 million euros after finding out from privately employed doctors that his kidney could have been saved.
"I will never allow Dr Dimanski to treat me ever again," added Klasnic.
Good for him!
English Premier League Dominates European Champions League
As I was writing the last post on the Barcelona FC-Manchester United semifinals series for the European Champions League, I decided to check what other clubs made it to the semfinals (I haven't really been following the Champion's League lately or any other European club soccer for that matter as I have been instead tracking Croatia's Euro 2008 hopes) but anyway let's move on...
Despite England's elimination from Euro 2008 at the hands of Croatia and Russia, the English Premier League loaded with mostly non-English players (including at least three Croatian players), has dominated the Semifinals of the Champions League with three EPL clubs (Manchester United, Chelsea FC, and Liverpool) and the fourth, of course, being Barcelona.
Should Manchester United defeat Barcelona in the second leg, the fact that their opponent for the Champions League final will be either Chelsea and Liverpool (both EPL rivals) could be both good and bad for the Manchester United squad especially since it is Chelsea that defeated Manchester United in a recent EPL match that has reopened the EPL title chances for Chelsea. This also gives Manchester United a shot at revenge from Chelsea in an even bigger match: Champion of Europe...
But not so fast...Chelsea FC and Liverpool are clubs of almost the same caliber and according to an article on UEFA's website, they cancel each other out which will make the second leg of the Chelsea-Liverpool match a very important one (hopefully Fox Soccer Channel, ESPN, or Gol TV will cover it...shockingly ESPN might take a break from more popular American sports to air the Champions League final. they are after all showing every single Euro 2008 and World Cup 2010 match live).
See this article for more information regarding the Liverpool-Chelsea match.
Despite England's elimination from Euro 2008 at the hands of Croatia and Russia, the English Premier League loaded with mostly non-English players (including at least three Croatian players), has dominated the Semifinals of the Champions League with three EPL clubs (Manchester United, Chelsea FC, and Liverpool) and the fourth, of course, being Barcelona.
Should Manchester United defeat Barcelona in the second leg, the fact that their opponent for the Champions League final will be either Chelsea and Liverpool (both EPL rivals) could be both good and bad for the Manchester United squad especially since it is Chelsea that defeated Manchester United in a recent EPL match that has reopened the EPL title chances for Chelsea. This also gives Manchester United a shot at revenge from Chelsea in an even bigger match: Champion of Europe...
But not so fast...Chelsea FC and Liverpool are clubs of almost the same caliber and according to an article on UEFA's website, they cancel each other out which will make the second leg of the Chelsea-Liverpool match a very important one (hopefully Fox Soccer Channel, ESPN, or Gol TV will cover it...shockingly ESPN might take a break from more popular American sports to air the Champions League final. they are after all showing every single Euro 2008 and World Cup 2010 match live).
See this article for more information regarding the Liverpool-Chelsea match.
Manchester United looking to eliminate FC Barcelona to advance to European Champion's League Final
According to this article from from UEFA's website, Manchester United captain Rio Ferdinand feels confident about his club as he demands high concentration as they look to eliminate La Liga's FC Barcelona in order to reach the final of the European Champions League, the winner of which will advance to December's FIFA Club World Cup, the seven team tournament that features the club champion of every FIFA continental zone.
The first (away) leg of the two-legged semifinal home/away series against Barcelona ended with a scoreless tie. Both clubs must now rely on the second leg at Old Trafford (Manchester United's home field). However, Ferdinand is extremely confident and determined that they can come out with a win but warned his fellow players taht they must concentrate on this goal: "They're a very good attacking side so if we're not on our game for the whole 90 minutes and concentrating that whole time I'm sure they will find the gaps to score goals. I thought every one of our players, not just the back four and the keeper, defended resolutely."
Rio Ferdinand also reminded his players that if they lose concentration for just one minute, FC Barcelona can very easily score. In my experience with watching FC Barcelona, Ferdinand's advice is on the money. I actually had the opportunity to watch the New York Red Bulls suffer a crushing defeat while Barcelona was on a tour of the United States and Mexico to play a few friendlies against some Mexican and American clubs. Brazilian star Ronaldhino, who played for the Spanish club at the time, scored at least 3 goals at Giants Stadium.
I've never liked Manchester United (especially because Wayne Rooney plays for them and simply because of the fact that have been an English Premier League powerhouse for years already). The idea that the English national team and Manchester United could lose big games just months away from each other puts a smile on my face because I can't stand their smug attitude. The only players that really ever respected to come out of Manchester United are David Beckham and current Portuguese player Cristiano Ronaldo. Stars such as Argentine Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto'o of Cameroon, and Thierry Henry of France can defintely give Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney, and the rest of Manchester United some real probelms despite the home field advantage.
United's recent 2-1 loss to Chelsea (which I blogged about recently) threw the English Premier League title race wide open and was a big blow to the club's morale, and whether or not they will win the EPL title or the Champion's League really depends on Wayne Rooney's fitness. Rooney, according to the article, "hobbled out of the game at Stamford Bridge."
Despite his possible injury, Rooney thinks that Manchester United will indeed come out victorious against Barcelona. Interesting that Rooney would think so! The last time a team Rooney was on played without him, the English national team lost 3-2 in London causing a once soccer powerhouse to sink so low that they had to hire and rely on a non-English coach. However, the stats do back up Rooney's opinion. According to the article, Manchester United has :won a competition record eleven straight UEFA Champions League games." Also, Rooney has added, "We've got a great record at Old Trafford and we're confident of beating anyone there. We'll attack more and we'll try and win the game as we know we can."
No wonder Rooney gets so many injuries and red cards-- the guy thinks he's so good, he looks for trouble even if it means putting his precious English national team in jeopardy (see this post I wrote a while back regarding Rooney's hot temper).
I apologize for not getting a video of the first leg highlights. For some reason, UEFA is not allowing youtubers to put up videos. See this video for audio commentary from BBC Sport.
UEFA Refs expected to clamp down on excessive force during Euro 2008 competition
Just two years after the WORST officiating ever in a major competition at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the Associated Press has reported that UEFA has "instructed referees...to simultaneously protect players from excessive force and crack down on simulation of injuries at the European Championship."
Refs were also instructed "to stamp out any pushing and shoving in the penalty area before corners and free kicks, with yellow cards to be awarded on a second offense."
Hugh Dallas, the former FIFA referee who is now responsible for training refs for UEFA, claims that the new rules are being added because they "want the best players at the end of June to be in the same fine shape as they were in the beginning of June."
Responsibilities for assistant refs have also been increased (see link to article above for more info).
I don't have any problems regarding disciplining players especially when they deserve it, but at times, these officials go way too far. I seem to remember that FIFA made very similar changes ahead of the 2006 World Cup, and as I said above, that competition had the worst and exaggerated officiating done in World Cup history with a ridiculous amont of red cards given, never mind yellows.
Vlado Sajn, another ref trainer, claims that "referees have a responsibility to protect the players and the image of the game. Challenges endangering the safety of an opponent will be sanctioned with a red card."
I cannot agree more with Sajn, but at times, international refs (especially those at the most recent World Cup) have overprotected "the image of the game" to a point where it seems like an even more watered down version of Major League Soccer officiating.
According to the article, UEFA has introduced "12 referees, 24 assistant refs and eight fourth officials for the tournament.
Referees were taken from twelve nations, which include Austria and Switzerland (the host nations), Belgium, England (the only appearance the almighty English will have in this year's tournament), Germany, Greece (the defending Euro champions), Italy (the defending World Cup champions), Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden. This is in addition to eight referees from other European countries.
UEFA is also clamping down on players who fake injuries with diving resulting in yellow cards. This is something FIFA promised to clamp down on at the World Cup but it didn't seem to happen as Italy became notorious for faking injuries (sorry Italian fans but you know its true). One controversial call involving an Italian player's exaggeration of an injury caused Australia's fairy tale run to end at the round of 16 as Australia fought Italy for a full 90 minutes only to lose because of an exaggerated injury in the penalty box during stoppage time which essentially gave Italy the win with a successful penalty kick and a 1-0 result. Watch this youtube video which summarizes the entire game (pay very close attention to the very end when the injury and penalty kick occurs):
Australia (a team I like call "the Croatia B team" as half their team are Australian-born Croatians who could not make it to the Croatian national team and are good childhood friends with Australian-born Croatian national teamers) just came out of a strong first round group that consisted of Brazil, Japan, and Croatia, defeating Japan with 3 last minute goals in the final ten minutes as the Japanese were ready to declare victory and their first three points, a loss to Brazil, and a hard fought 2-2 draw against a Croatian team that needed a win to progress.
For more information regarding the officiating at the upcoming Euro, click here.
Refs were also instructed "to stamp out any pushing and shoving in the penalty area before corners and free kicks, with yellow cards to be awarded on a second offense."
Hugh Dallas, the former FIFA referee who is now responsible for training refs for UEFA, claims that the new rules are being added because they "want the best players at the end of June to be in the same fine shape as they were in the beginning of June."
Responsibilities for assistant refs have also been increased (see link to article above for more info).
I don't have any problems regarding disciplining players especially when they deserve it, but at times, these officials go way too far. I seem to remember that FIFA made very similar changes ahead of the 2006 World Cup, and as I said above, that competition had the worst and exaggerated officiating done in World Cup history with a ridiculous amont of red cards given, never mind yellows.
Vlado Sajn, another ref trainer, claims that "referees have a responsibility to protect the players and the image of the game. Challenges endangering the safety of an opponent will be sanctioned with a red card."
I cannot agree more with Sajn, but at times, international refs (especially those at the most recent World Cup) have overprotected "the image of the game" to a point where it seems like an even more watered down version of Major League Soccer officiating.
According to the article, UEFA has introduced "12 referees, 24 assistant refs and eight fourth officials for the tournament.
Referees were taken from twelve nations, which include Austria and Switzerland (the host nations), Belgium, England (the only appearance the almighty English will have in this year's tournament), Germany, Greece (the defending Euro champions), Italy (the defending World Cup champions), Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden. This is in addition to eight referees from other European countries.
UEFA is also clamping down on players who fake injuries with diving resulting in yellow cards. This is something FIFA promised to clamp down on at the World Cup but it didn't seem to happen as Italy became notorious for faking injuries (sorry Italian fans but you know its true). One controversial call involving an Italian player's exaggeration of an injury caused Australia's fairy tale run to end at the round of 16 as Australia fought Italy for a full 90 minutes only to lose because of an exaggerated injury in the penalty box during stoppage time which essentially gave Italy the win with a successful penalty kick and a 1-0 result. Watch this youtube video which summarizes the entire game (pay very close attention to the very end when the injury and penalty kick occurs):
Australia (a team I like call "the Croatia B team" as half their team are Australian-born Croatians who could not make it to the Croatian national team and are good childhood friends with Australian-born Croatian national teamers) just came out of a strong first round group that consisted of Brazil, Japan, and Croatia, defeating Japan with 3 last minute goals in the final ten minutes as the Japanese were ready to declare victory and their first three points, a loss to Brazil, and a hard fought 2-2 draw against a Croatian team that needed a win to progress.
For more information regarding the officiating at the upcoming Euro, click here.
UEFA to release booklet with multilingual translations
This has been reported almost two weeks but I thought I would do a quick post about it.
The Associated Press has reported on April 16th (see this article on Fox Soccer's website) that UEFA has finally released "a multilingual pocket dictionary of soccer terms to help players, coaches and fans bridge the language gap."
The booklet, which has been published by UEFA (European soccer's governing body) will cost 16.95 Euros (around 27 bucks) and will contain 2,000 official translations used by both FIFA and UEFA. However, the booklet only covers three languages (English, French--the official language of FIFA, and German), but UEFA is considering publication in Russian, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese as well.
This booklet is of course a great idea. The only criticism I have is: why so late?
More on this as more information becomes available.
The Associated Press has reported on April 16th (see this article on Fox Soccer's website) that UEFA has finally released "a multilingual pocket dictionary of soccer terms to help players, coaches and fans bridge the language gap."
The booklet, which has been published by UEFA (European soccer's governing body) will cost 16.95 Euros (around 27 bucks) and will contain 2,000 official translations used by both FIFA and UEFA. However, the booklet only covers three languages (English, French--the official language of FIFA, and German), but UEFA is considering publication in Russian, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese as well.
This booklet is of course a great idea. The only criticism I have is: why so late?
More on this as more information becomes available.
US Women's National Team deserve way more credit then they get
In a country where soccer is struggling as it is, it is tough being a soccer fan in the United States. Major League Soccer is expanding and the US Men's National Team (although still not an international soccer power) is growing into a powerful team in the CONCACAF region beating Mexico in a stunning victory at the 2007 Gold Cup. With energetic young players, this will definitely change. In this blog post, however, I am not going to talk about the Men's Soccer team, but rather an American soccer team that has gone entirely un-noticed but is believe it or not a soccer powerhouse (and they don't even have league! or at least not one that I know of).
As a matter of fact, the Women's National Soccer team is the #1 team in the most recent FIFA rankings and have not fallen past #2 since FIFA first started the ranking system for women's soccer in August 2003. Ever since then they have fought against their rival Germany for the #1 spot. I don't always agree with these rankings but being that I'm not too familiar with women's soccer, I won't take anything against FIFA. However, I don know that the American women really do deserve more credit. Their biggest accomplishment was winning the very first Women's World Cup in 1991 which took place in China. After this they progressed as follows:
Sweden 1995: 3rd place
USA 1999: 1st place
USA 2003: 3rd place
China 2007: 3rd place
As you can see, the women's team has always finished in at least third place in a World Cup which can rarely be said about their male counterpart. In 2011, the American team is looking for their revenge against their German rival who won the World Cup in 2007 and 2003. For more regarding the 2011 Women's World Cup and previous tournament, see this site.
The women's national team's latest match was an April 27th exhibition against Australia kicking off a 3 city tour in Cary, North Carolina. The United States had a record of 16-0-2 against Australia (a team ranked 12 in the FIFA rankings) before this match, and the Americans expected nothing less than victory in this match as well, but this was easier said than done.
The United States made it look easy as they scored two goals putting themselves comfortably ahead of their Australian rivals and looked as if they were going to clinch a victory in this Summer Olympic friendly warm-up, but Australia, desperate to beat the Americans for the first time in history, rallied in the last 6 minutes of the match to tie it 2-2 by the 88th minute. With only 2 more minutes (+ stoppage time) the Americans had to think of something fast before the Australians take away a draw. This is where American Carli Lloyd (expecting another winning performance at this year's summer Olympics) stepped in to save the team from defeat against an Australian team that they always beat. Lloyd finally scored the game winner in the first minute of stoppage time keeping any chance of a win from the Australians.
Sports Illustrated described this goal as follows: "...Lloyd put the Americans ahead to stay in the first minute of bonus time. Cat Whitehill sent a free kick toward the goal, keeper Lydia Williams punched it into the air and Lloyd headed the ball into an empty net about 75 seconds before the final whistle sounded."
The main purpose of this match was to warm-up for Beijing, and they proved that they are definitely ready for tougher matches ahead. The other two goals were scored by Natasha Kai and Abby Wambach improving coach Pia Sundhage undefeated record. 11-0-1.
They were also forced to overcome soggy conditions on the turf after a 53 minute weather delay.
Post-game quotes:
Carli Lloyd:
"We hope when we get to Beijing, we're peaking at the right moment. Fatigue was setting in, but this team is about winning and we find a way to get it done."
"I actually liked playing in this weather -- you can't replicate it, and your touch has to be really on and you have to really focus to keep the ball at your feet."
Natasha Kai:
"That's what's going to happen in the Olympics ... and we're just going to have to prepare and fight to the end, and that's what we did."
Australian Coach Tom Sermanni:
"I thought we were actually going to steal a draw."
"We just gave away a dumb free kick, and when you play America, you get Wambachs and the others ... you're going to be in trouble. And to be honest, we just kind of got ... edgy, when we should have just been calm and shut the game down and finished it off."
For more information regarding the almost invincible and unbeatable US Women's National Team, check out the official website.
I know leave you with a few youtube videos of goals from the current US Women's National team squad as well as some random videos featuring players from the team:
Interview with Natasha Kai (embedding was disabled on this video so had to post the link)
A tribute to the team from a random youtuber
Here is the link to the official youtube page of the US Soccer Federation for videos from both the Men's and Women's soccer team.
As a matter of fact, the Women's National Soccer team is the #1 team in the most recent FIFA rankings and have not fallen past #2 since FIFA first started the ranking system for women's soccer in August 2003. Ever since then they have fought against their rival Germany for the #1 spot. I don't always agree with these rankings but being that I'm not too familiar with women's soccer, I won't take anything against FIFA. However, I don know that the American women really do deserve more credit. Their biggest accomplishment was winning the very first Women's World Cup in 1991 which took place in China. After this they progressed as follows:
Sweden 1995: 3rd place
USA 1999: 1st place
USA 2003: 3rd place
China 2007: 3rd place
As you can see, the women's team has always finished in at least third place in a World Cup which can rarely be said about their male counterpart. In 2011, the American team is looking for their revenge against their German rival who won the World Cup in 2007 and 2003. For more regarding the 2011 Women's World Cup and previous tournament, see this site.
The women's national team's latest match was an April 27th exhibition against Australia kicking off a 3 city tour in Cary, North Carolina. The United States had a record of 16-0-2 against Australia (a team ranked 12 in the FIFA rankings) before this match, and the Americans expected nothing less than victory in this match as well, but this was easier said than done.
The United States made it look easy as they scored two goals putting themselves comfortably ahead of their Australian rivals and looked as if they were going to clinch a victory in this Summer Olympic friendly warm-up, but Australia, desperate to beat the Americans for the first time in history, rallied in the last 6 minutes of the match to tie it 2-2 by the 88th minute. With only 2 more minutes (+ stoppage time) the Americans had to think of something fast before the Australians take away a draw. This is where American Carli Lloyd (expecting another winning performance at this year's summer Olympics) stepped in to save the team from defeat against an Australian team that they always beat. Lloyd finally scored the game winner in the first minute of stoppage time keeping any chance of a win from the Australians.
Sports Illustrated described this goal as follows: "...Lloyd put the Americans ahead to stay in the first minute of bonus time. Cat Whitehill sent a free kick toward the goal, keeper Lydia Williams punched it into the air and Lloyd headed the ball into an empty net about 75 seconds before the final whistle sounded."
The main purpose of this match was to warm-up for Beijing, and they proved that they are definitely ready for tougher matches ahead. The other two goals were scored by Natasha Kai and Abby Wambach improving coach Pia Sundhage undefeated record. 11-0-1.
They were also forced to overcome soggy conditions on the turf after a 53 minute weather delay.
Post-game quotes:
Carli Lloyd:
"We hope when we get to Beijing, we're peaking at the right moment. Fatigue was setting in, but this team is about winning and we find a way to get it done."
"I actually liked playing in this weather -- you can't replicate it, and your touch has to be really on and you have to really focus to keep the ball at your feet."
Natasha Kai:
"That's what's going to happen in the Olympics ... and we're just going to have to prepare and fight to the end, and that's what we did."
Australian Coach Tom Sermanni:
"I thought we were actually going to steal a draw."
"We just gave away a dumb free kick, and when you play America, you get Wambachs and the others ... you're going to be in trouble. And to be honest, we just kind of got ... edgy, when we should have just been calm and shut the game down and finished it off."
For more information regarding the almost invincible and unbeatable US Women's National Team, check out the official website.
I know leave you with a few youtube videos of goals from the current US Women's National team squad as well as some random videos featuring players from the team:
Interview with Natasha Kai (embedding was disabled on this video so had to post the link)
A tribute to the team from a random youtuber
Here is the link to the official youtube page of the US Soccer Federation for videos from both the Men's and Women's soccer team.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
English Premier League Update: Arsenal falls, Chelsea and Manchester United tied at the Top
While the London-based Arsenal has been eliminated from any chance at winning this year's EPL title, Chelsea and Manchester United are now tied at the top of the standings after Chelsea defeated Manchester United 2-1. After winning this match, Chelsea is now tied with Manchester United at the top of the standings and Chelsea has Micahel Ballack to thank for it.
At the 86th minute, the match was tied 1-1, but it was Ballack that scored the penalty kick to win the match for Chelsea. Ballack also scored the opening goal for Chelsea before Wayne Rooney scored the equalizer.
Defending champion Manchester United currently leads Chelsea in the standings only by goal difference with only two matches remaining.
A brawl between Manchester United players and Chelsea staff occurred after the match and is currently being investigated by the English Football Association. Here is a Sky News report posted on youtube explaining the background to the fight:
Click here for video highlights for this match.
At the 86th minute, the match was tied 1-1, but it was Ballack that scored the penalty kick to win the match for Chelsea. Ballack also scored the opening goal for Chelsea before Wayne Rooney scored the equalizer.
Defending champion Manchester United currently leads Chelsea in the standings only by goal difference with only two matches remaining.
A brawl between Manchester United players and Chelsea staff occurred after the match and is currently being investigated by the English Football Association. Here is a Sky News report posted on youtube explaining the background to the fight:
Click here for video highlights for this match.
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