From the Associated Press:
Lionel Messi moved back to the top of the AP Global Soccer rankings, and Barcelona stayed No. 1 in the team poll after a 4-0 win over Levante in the Spanish league.
Messi earned 183 out of a possible 200 points from The Associated Press' panel of 20 global soccer journalists. Last week's winner, Paris Saint-Germain striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, was second. Ibrahimovic topped the previous poll mainly for his four goals for Sweden against England.
Barcelona was voted the top club of the week after stretching its lead to three points over Atletico Madrid and 11 points over third-place Real Madrid.
Ibrahimovic had 124 points, while another Barcelona player, Andres Iniesta, moved into third place with 119.
''Two clinical finishes from Messi got Barca rolling towards a 4-0 win against Levante and followed his Champions League double against Spartak,'' panelist Will Tidey of the San Francisco-based Bleacher report said. ''Gerd Mueller's record is just three goals away.''
Mueller, a former Germany and Bayern Munich great, holds the record for most goals scored in a calendar year with 85.
The panel's two Italian voters, Paulo Condi of La Gazzetta Dello Sport and Aurelio Capaldi of Rai Sport, paid tribute to Iniesta.
''He made things easy for Barca as he twice set up Messi, scored a goal and allowed Cesc Fabregas to kill the game,'' Capaldi said.
“LIKE A JEDI KNIGHT— no, better than that— A TEMPLAR KNIGHT. This is a FLASH OF PURE INSPIRATION, and let me tip my hat to the genesis of this goal: Ibarra. Lionel only absolutely LIGHTS IT UP here, he LIFTS OFF IT, FLAMETHROWERS IT PAST poor Reny Vega. It’s just as well Reny didn’t get a hand to that because it would have TAKEN IT OFF HIS WRIST. Superlative football and an out of this world BERNINI SCULPTURE of a finish." GOL TV Commentator Ray Hudson
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Messi Passes Pele
From espn.com:
Lionel Messi surpassed Pele's milestone of goals in a calendar year by scoring for the 75th and 76th time in 2012 to move within nine of Gerd Mueller's all-time record as Barcelona won 4-2 at Mallorca in the Spanish league on Sunday.
Barcelona was rolling 3-0 at the break thanks to goals from Xavi, Messi and Cristian Tello. But Mallorca scored twice in four second-half minutes through Michael Pereira and a Victor Casadesus penalty but Messi struck to bring Mallorca's comeback to a halt.
Messi was influential from the outset, forcing Dudu Aouate to intercept his cross from Xavi's free kick from the right. Dani Alves' 20-yard shot was also repelled by the keeper.
"Leo's records are spectacular," Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova said. "It's spectacular when you think that he scores so many goals. Some few players reach these numbers in seven or eight seasons, he does it in one. And most of his goals are great goals."
This is the latest scoring feat for the Argentine forward. He scored 73 goals in the 2011-12 season for Barcelona, breaking the European club record of 67 goals set by Mueller in 1972-73. He also set a Spanish league record of 50 goals last season and broke Cesar Rodriguez's 57-year milestone of 232 goals to become Barcelona's career scoring leader.
Barcelona's 10th win in 11 rounds extended its club-record start and maintained an 8-point gap over third-place Madrid after its 2-1 victory over Levante. Second-place Atletico Madrid remained three points behind the leaders after its 2-0 win over Getafe.
Lionel Messi surpassed Pele's milestone of goals in a calendar year by scoring for the 75th and 76th time in 2012 to move within nine of Gerd Mueller's all-time record as Barcelona won 4-2 at Mallorca in the Spanish league on Sunday.
Barcelona was rolling 3-0 at the break thanks to goals from Xavi, Messi and Cristian Tello. But Mallorca scored twice in four second-half minutes through Michael Pereira and a Victor Casadesus penalty but Messi struck to bring Mallorca's comeback to a halt.
Messi was influential from the outset, forcing Dudu Aouate to intercept his cross from Xavi's free kick from the right. Dani Alves' 20-yard shot was also repelled by the keeper.
"Leo's records are spectacular," Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova said. "It's spectacular when you think that he scores so many goals. Some few players reach these numbers in seven or eight seasons, he does it in one. And most of his goals are great goals."
This is the latest scoring feat for the Argentine forward. He scored 73 goals in the 2011-12 season for Barcelona, breaking the European club record of 67 goals set by Mueller in 1972-73. He also set a Spanish league record of 50 goals last season and broke Cesar Rodriguez's 57-year milestone of 232 goals to become Barcelona's career scoring leader.
Barcelona's 10th win in 11 rounds extended its club-record start and maintained an 8-point gap over third-place Madrid after its 2-1 victory over Levante. Second-place Atletico Madrid remained three points behind the leaders after its 2-0 win over Getafe.
Friday, November 9, 2012
DC United Stuns Red Bulls !
From dcist.com:
HARRISON, N.J. — D.C. United entered its Eastern Conference semifinal series with the New York Red Bulls as an outside shot to make any noise in the playoffs. Despite finishing the season on a seven-game unbeaten streak and putting up the third highest point total of any MLS team—all without the use of defending MLS MVP Dwayne De Rosario—pundits and opponents alike seemed to think of United as little more than an unexpected road bump for the likes of Sporting Kansas City or New York.
Three red cards, two own goals, one snowstorm and one hurricane-induced schedule swap later, United is suddenly the odds-on favorite to win the conference final, having emerged from yesterday's game at Red Bull Arena with a wild, wide-open 1-0 victory over their rivals. The win—which brought the aggregate score for the home and away series to 2-1 and sets up an face-off with the Houston Dynamo in the Eastern Conference finals—was vindication for a team that many had already written off.
"We are the most successful team in the league," United President and CEO Kevin Payne said after the match, standing in the center of a raucous post-game locker room celebration. "Not New York. Not Los Angeles. Nobody else. Us. And tonight, this team lived up to that tradition."
This was never going to be an ordinary game. After working around Hurricane Sandy and a powerful and unexpected blast of winter weather that pushed the game back from Wednesday to Thursday, most of the small crowd—the announced attendance was over 14,000, though it appeared there were between 5,000 and 6,000 actually there—knew to expect the unexpected. How fitting, then, that the game's biggest moment would be something out of the ordinary: an encroachment call on a penalty kick attempt. And how impossibly perfect, then, that the person who made the call was none other than Mark Geiger, who'd victimized United earlier in the year with a similar call.
This time around, United found themselves benefiting from Geiger's pet peeve. In the 71st minute, Red Bulls forward Kenny Cooper was alone on goal. United goalkeeper Bill Hamid—who'd already bailed his team out with several critical first-half saves—charged out to meet the onrushing attacker. It was a clear foul meriting a red card. Hamid was sent off without hesitation. Substitute Joe Willis, who hadn't seen action in months, was brought on to replace him.
Cooper stepped to the spot and calmly converted the penalty kick, but Geiger disallowed the goal after noticing that three different Red Bulls players entered the box early. On the ensuing re-take, Willis guessed correctly and stopped the attempt. It proved to be too big a blow for New York to overcome.
Hamid didn't say much about the card, but he made it clear some 90 seconds after leaving the pitch that he didn't exactly agree with the call via his Twitter account. (The tweet has since been removed). Add that to the list of anomalies in this series: ejected player goes to locker room and immediately tweets his distaste for NBC Sports color commentator Kyle Martino's agreement with the referee's decision.
United's lone goal came just two minutes before full time, courtesy of rookie phenom Nick De Leon, who confidently struck a ball from the right side of the box that eluded Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles. The assist on the goal came from a most unexpected source—Robbie Russell. Russell, a veteran defender filling in for the suspended Andy Najar at right back, had played only 12 minutes since returning from an injury in September. “I just saw a black shirt running across my face and wanted to put [the ball] in front of him,” Russell said after the game.
The goal sent United's supporters into a frenzy. Some 250 fans—many of whom had spent 11 hours on buses the previous day, only to watch the match be cancelled—made the trip back up. The clubs and league again arranged for buses and tickets for the supporters, a move originally made as a consolation to United after the schedule swap.
United Head Coach Ben Olsen was painfully aware of the sacrifices involved in traveling for a mid-week game.
"Some of those supporters out there, they're probably already booking their tickets to Houston," a smiling Olsen said. "I don't think they'll ever work again, some of them are gonna get fired [laughs]. It just means a lot to the guys and this organization."
While United celebrated the victory, the feeling in the New York locker room after the match was one of utter devastation. Dan Dickinson, who covers the Red Bulls for Gothamist, described how Thierry Henry consoled Cooper as he fought back tears, unable to come to grips with the cruel reality that his season was over. A despondent Tim Cahill also came to the aid of his teammate: "What can you say? It’s life. I’ve missed penalties in the past. I don’t even for one instant blame him."
So, what's next for United? The club will travel this afternoon to Houston, where they'll face the Dynamo, which entered the playoffs as the lowest seed in the Eastern Conference and promptly knocked off top-seeded Kansas City. The game, which had originally been slated for Saturday but was pushed back to Sunday due to the postponement of the United-Red Bulls series, will be broadcast on NBC Sports Network (4 p.m. kickoff).
One United player is certainly looking forward to the Texas sunshine. "Yeah, the weather should be good," Chris Pontius said. "I don’t think any game should be cancelled down there, right?"
HARRISON, N.J. — D.C. United entered its Eastern Conference semifinal series with the New York Red Bulls as an outside shot to make any noise in the playoffs. Despite finishing the season on a seven-game unbeaten streak and putting up the third highest point total of any MLS team—all without the use of defending MLS MVP Dwayne De Rosario—pundits and opponents alike seemed to think of United as little more than an unexpected road bump for the likes of Sporting Kansas City or New York.
Three red cards, two own goals, one snowstorm and one hurricane-induced schedule swap later, United is suddenly the odds-on favorite to win the conference final, having emerged from yesterday's game at Red Bull Arena with a wild, wide-open 1-0 victory over their rivals. The win—which brought the aggregate score for the home and away series to 2-1 and sets up an face-off with the Houston Dynamo in the Eastern Conference finals—was vindication for a team that many had already written off.
"We are the most successful team in the league," United President and CEO Kevin Payne said after the match, standing in the center of a raucous post-game locker room celebration. "Not New York. Not Los Angeles. Nobody else. Us. And tonight, this team lived up to that tradition."
This was never going to be an ordinary game. After working around Hurricane Sandy and a powerful and unexpected blast of winter weather that pushed the game back from Wednesday to Thursday, most of the small crowd—the announced attendance was over 14,000, though it appeared there were between 5,000 and 6,000 actually there—knew to expect the unexpected. How fitting, then, that the game's biggest moment would be something out of the ordinary: an encroachment call on a penalty kick attempt. And how impossibly perfect, then, that the person who made the call was none other than Mark Geiger, who'd victimized United earlier in the year with a similar call.
This time around, United found themselves benefiting from Geiger's pet peeve. In the 71st minute, Red Bulls forward Kenny Cooper was alone on goal. United goalkeeper Bill Hamid—who'd already bailed his team out with several critical first-half saves—charged out to meet the onrushing attacker. It was a clear foul meriting a red card. Hamid was sent off without hesitation. Substitute Joe Willis, who hadn't seen action in months, was brought on to replace him.
Cooper stepped to the spot and calmly converted the penalty kick, but Geiger disallowed the goal after noticing that three different Red Bulls players entered the box early. On the ensuing re-take, Willis guessed correctly and stopped the attempt. It proved to be too big a blow for New York to overcome.
Hamid didn't say much about the card, but he made it clear some 90 seconds after leaving the pitch that he didn't exactly agree with the call via his Twitter account. (The tweet has since been removed). Add that to the list of anomalies in this series: ejected player goes to locker room and immediately tweets his distaste for NBC Sports color commentator Kyle Martino's agreement with the referee's decision.
United's lone goal came just two minutes before full time, courtesy of rookie phenom Nick De Leon, who confidently struck a ball from the right side of the box that eluded Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles. The assist on the goal came from a most unexpected source—Robbie Russell. Russell, a veteran defender filling in for the suspended Andy Najar at right back, had played only 12 minutes since returning from an injury in September. “I just saw a black shirt running across my face and wanted to put [the ball] in front of him,” Russell said after the game.
The goal sent United's supporters into a frenzy. Some 250 fans—many of whom had spent 11 hours on buses the previous day, only to watch the match be cancelled—made the trip back up. The clubs and league again arranged for buses and tickets for the supporters, a move originally made as a consolation to United after the schedule swap.
United Head Coach Ben Olsen was painfully aware of the sacrifices involved in traveling for a mid-week game.
"Some of those supporters out there, they're probably already booking their tickets to Houston," a smiling Olsen said. "I don't think they'll ever work again, some of them are gonna get fired [laughs]. It just means a lot to the guys and this organization."
While United celebrated the victory, the feeling in the New York locker room after the match was one of utter devastation. Dan Dickinson, who covers the Red Bulls for Gothamist, described how Thierry Henry consoled Cooper as he fought back tears, unable to come to grips with the cruel reality that his season was over. A despondent Tim Cahill also came to the aid of his teammate: "What can you say? It’s life. I’ve missed penalties in the past. I don’t even for one instant blame him."
So, what's next for United? The club will travel this afternoon to Houston, where they'll face the Dynamo, which entered the playoffs as the lowest seed in the Eastern Conference and promptly knocked off top-seeded Kansas City. The game, which had originally been slated for Saturday but was pushed back to Sunday due to the postponement of the United-Red Bulls series, will be broadcast on NBC Sports Network (4 p.m. kickoff).
One United player is certainly looking forward to the Texas sunshine. "Yeah, the weather should be good," Chris Pontius said. "I don’t think any game should be cancelled down there, right?"
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
DC United Back to Playoffs !
From Washingtonpost.com:
All United needed was a draw Saturday night at RFK Stadium to end a five-year postseason drought. But in the closing moments of a tense match with considerable implications, reserve midfielder Lewis Neal scored in the clear for a 3-2 victory over the Columbus Crew, touching off a display of raw emotion not seen at the old ballpark in many autumns.
“It was like the old days,” said Coach Ben Olsen, who played 12 years for United. “I don’t like to bring up the old days very often, but the feeling in that building felt like the good old days, and I would like to keep that around.”
Backed by 19,647, the largest crowd of the year, Brazilian midfielder Marcelo Saragosa scored the critical tying goal early in the second half, his first of the season to cap the second comeback of the evening.
In added time, with the Crew needing to win in order to keep its playoff hopes alive, United took advantage of ample space in Columbus’s back. Branko Boskovic steered the ball to Neal, who one-timed a low shot past charging goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum.
United exhaled and celebrated — a moment five years in the making.
“It was an unbelievable effort and it’s an unbelievable feeling,” Neal said. “We’ve done what we set out to do and know we can prepare for something bigger.”
In extending its unbeaten streaks at home (12-0-4) and overall (5-0-1), United (17-10-6, 57 points) overtook the Chicago Fire (17-11-5, 56) for second place in MLS's Eastern Conference and drew within three points of Sporting Kansas City with one week remaining. Sporting can clinch the top seed with a victory or draw at home Wednesday against Philadelphia.
D.C. will visit Chicago on Saturday with an opportunity to secure a first-round bye and an automatic spot in the conference semifinals, which begin in two weeks.
“Relief, excitement — it’s been a long time coming,” leading scorer Chris Pontius said. “Everyone is excited for the opportunity. We’re sitting in a good position. We put ourselves in a good position.”
It didn’t start out well, though.
The Crew went ahead in the seventh minute on Eddie Gaven’s finish, and two minutes after United’s Nick DeLeon set a club rookie scoring record with his sixth goal, Jairo Arrieta restored Columbus’s advantage in the 41st with a bending shot that hit the right post and deflected off diving goalkeeper Bill Hamid’s trailing foot.
But in the 59th minute, Saragosa struck a 22-yard one-timer through a tangle of players and into the lower right corner.
Brandon McDonald made it possible with a play that epitomized United’s determination. Off a set piece, the center back failed to cleanly win a high ball but stuck with it and swept a pass to Saragosa, a defensive midfielder who recorded his third goal in 131 MLS regular season appearances.
“I had to take the opportunity; I had to score the goal,” he said. “I am the player that works hard every time, but I needed to do something different.”
In describing the goal, Saragosa also spoke of his father, Gilson, who died in April at age 60. “I scored this goal with my heart,” he said.
Columbus suffered a pregame setback when starting center back Chad Marshall was scratched because of ankle tightness. His partner in the previous five matches, Julius James, was ruled out Friday with a hamstring injury.
United had not lost since Sept. 1 but hadn’t played any playoff contenders either. Without injured star Dwayne De Rosario, United turned to blue-collar tactics to grind out results and move into postseason contention.
“We’ve grown closer since Dwayne went down,” Olsen said. “It was survival. Everybody understood we have to be a real team and commit to each other and bail each other out. Slowly over this six-week period it has got us to the point where we are today. Everyone is buying into it.”
Olsen received contributions Saturday from a pair of industrious veterans, Saragosa and Neal, who are in their first season with United. The defense showed cracks but withstood pressure by the Crew (14-12-7) while the match was still even.
When Neal scored, a playoff berth firmly in hand, Olsen leaped onto the emptying bench and nearly tumbled. At the final whistle, Hamid said he “started running with my arms in the air and kind of blacked out because this is something special.”
Said midfielder Perry Kitchen: “It’s a whole new season now.”
One that United hasn’t experienced in a long time.
All United needed was a draw Saturday night at RFK Stadium to end a five-year postseason drought. But in the closing moments of a tense match with considerable implications, reserve midfielder Lewis Neal scored in the clear for a 3-2 victory over the Columbus Crew, touching off a display of raw emotion not seen at the old ballpark in many autumns.
“It was like the old days,” said Coach Ben Olsen, who played 12 years for United. “I don’t like to bring up the old days very often, but the feeling in that building felt like the good old days, and I would like to keep that around.”
Backed by 19,647, the largest crowd of the year, Brazilian midfielder Marcelo Saragosa scored the critical tying goal early in the second half, his first of the season to cap the second comeback of the evening.
In added time, with the Crew needing to win in order to keep its playoff hopes alive, United took advantage of ample space in Columbus’s back. Branko Boskovic steered the ball to Neal, who one-timed a low shot past charging goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum.
United exhaled and celebrated — a moment five years in the making.
“It was an unbelievable effort and it’s an unbelievable feeling,” Neal said. “We’ve done what we set out to do and know we can prepare for something bigger.”
In extending its unbeaten streaks at home (12-0-4) and overall (5-0-1), United (17-10-6, 57 points) overtook the Chicago Fire (17-11-5, 56) for second place in MLS's Eastern Conference and drew within three points of Sporting Kansas City with one week remaining. Sporting can clinch the top seed with a victory or draw at home Wednesday against Philadelphia.
D.C. will visit Chicago on Saturday with an opportunity to secure a first-round bye and an automatic spot in the conference semifinals, which begin in two weeks.
“Relief, excitement — it’s been a long time coming,” leading scorer Chris Pontius said. “Everyone is excited for the opportunity. We’re sitting in a good position. We put ourselves in a good position.”
It didn’t start out well, though.
The Crew went ahead in the seventh minute on Eddie Gaven’s finish, and two minutes after United’s Nick DeLeon set a club rookie scoring record with his sixth goal, Jairo Arrieta restored Columbus’s advantage in the 41st with a bending shot that hit the right post and deflected off diving goalkeeper Bill Hamid’s trailing foot.
But in the 59th minute, Saragosa struck a 22-yard one-timer through a tangle of players and into the lower right corner.
Brandon McDonald made it possible with a play that epitomized United’s determination. Off a set piece, the center back failed to cleanly win a high ball but stuck with it and swept a pass to Saragosa, a defensive midfielder who recorded his third goal in 131 MLS regular season appearances.
“I had to take the opportunity; I had to score the goal,” he said. “I am the player that works hard every time, but I needed to do something different.”
In describing the goal, Saragosa also spoke of his father, Gilson, who died in April at age 60. “I scored this goal with my heart,” he said.
Columbus suffered a pregame setback when starting center back Chad Marshall was scratched because of ankle tightness. His partner in the previous five matches, Julius James, was ruled out Friday with a hamstring injury.
United had not lost since Sept. 1 but hadn’t played any playoff contenders either. Without injured star Dwayne De Rosario, United turned to blue-collar tactics to grind out results and move into postseason contention.
“We’ve grown closer since Dwayne went down,” Olsen said. “It was survival. Everybody understood we have to be a real team and commit to each other and bail each other out. Slowly over this six-week period it has got us to the point where we are today. Everyone is buying into it.”
Olsen received contributions Saturday from a pair of industrious veterans, Saragosa and Neal, who are in their first season with United. The defense showed cracks but withstood pressure by the Crew (14-12-7) while the match was still even.
When Neal scored, a playoff berth firmly in hand, Olsen leaped onto the emptying bench and nearly tumbled. At the final whistle, Hamid said he “started running with my arms in the air and kind of blacked out because this is something special.”
Said midfielder Perry Kitchen: “It’s a whole new season now.”
One that United hasn’t experienced in a long time.
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