Monday, September 19, 2011

Barca Crushes Osasuna 8-0

This past weekend was a good one in the land of Jedi Soccer, as FC Barcelona proved that reports of their demise were greatly exagerrated, and the Fort Lauderdale Strikers secured a home-field berth for the first round of the NASL playoffs.  Only DC United turned in a dissapointing performance this weekend.

From The Hindustan Times:

"A hat-trick by Lionel Messi inspired Barcelona to an 8-0 rout of Osasuna in La Liga on Saturday as the champions responded with a memorable performance after a poor week by their high standards. The Champions League holders were accused of complacency after blowing leads against Real Sociedad and AC Milan to twice draw 2-2 but they stormed into a 5-0 halftime lead against Osasuna at the Nou Camp.

David Villa scored twice, Cesc Fabregas, Xavi and visiting defender Roversio (own goal) joined Messi on the scoresheet as Barca climbed to second in the table with seven points from three matches.
Barca are two points behind leaders Valencia who were 1-0 winners at Sporting Gijon earlier in the day after striker Roberto Soldado scored his fifth league goal of the season."

Unfortunately, in MLS action DC United stunk up the stadium against the Seattle Sounders.  According to SB Nation.com, commenting on Seattle's fine showing,

"The passing, off-ball movement and penchant to threaten the keeper in Saturday's game was the team working at near perfection. Mauro Rosales and Fredy Montero were able to pick apart the DC United defense... But it was more than just great offense. In fact offense gets easier when your defensive players win the ball in 69% of opposed situations. Jeff Parke shutdown Charlie Davies, who had only 15 trackable actions. Osvaldo Alonso took Dwayne De Rosario out of the game. Both Davies and DeRo were pulled early so that United could make an attempt next week at earning their points in their attempt at the playoffs. But it may have been blocked shots that were the key, as Seattle blocked five and was blocked zero times."

Fortunately for DC United, they are not yet out of the playoff race in the MLS.  But they are not looking too strong at the moment, either.

Finally, our Fort Lauderdale Strikers managed to post a 1-1 draw against the lowly (and horribly named) Atlanta Silverbacks.  The goals were scored by Nico Colaluca for Atlanta and Brian Shriver for the Strikers. The Strikers earned the right to host a first round playoff game on Oct. 1.

Now that Barca appears to be returning to form, another exciting season of Spanish soccer is on, and our MLS side and NASL side are both either still in the hunt for a playoff spot (DC United), or already 'in' (Fort Lauderdale Strikers).  Coupled with Barca's 8-0 victory, that will do.