Kung-Fu Owen!

I think I just saw the funniest soccer pic in quite some time. I'd heard of Shaolin-Soccer but this is even better! Take a look for yourself!

RIP: Man Utd

Tonight was the worst game that Man Utd has played since a long time, definitely since I have been following the club. Closest was losing 1-4 to Man City in 2004. Everything has gone horribly wrong. There was no coordination, no desire, no ideas. Absolutely nothing. Ferdinand might find his place in the squad in serious jeopardy if Brown puts a few good games in. He really needs a good kick up his backside. Atleast 2 of tonight's goals were due to his horrible mistakes and they stem from an air of over-confidence and over-coolness that has been a part of his game suddenly. Incidently the same has been a cause for his axing from the English playing 11. The league is surely out of grasp now. I'm more worried about the long term future. Scholes is well past his prime, right now he is absolute rubbish (and it pains me to write that about him). Fletcher is just not gonna do in mid-field as he lacks the muscle. Smith is good, but most of the time its his mouth that does the talking and not his play. It doesn't help if you get a yellow card per game does it? I'm actually clueless for a change. I've always been optimistic about the team, but tonight was the pits. Rooney does not a team make. I wonder if Glazer's tearing his hair (or whatever is left of it) regarding his decision to buy the club. He makes money when the club wins. And that does not look too promising at the moment.

League Standings as of 28th Oct 2005

Europe
English Premier League
Spanish La Liga
Italian Serie A
German Bundesliga
Scottish Premier League
French Ligue 1
Dutch Eredivisie
Portugal

Americas
USA MLS
Argentina Primera Division
Brazilian Serie A
Mexico Primera Division

Australia
Australia A-League

Asia
Singapore S-League

Carling Cup: Wednesday Round-up

Wednesday as compared to Tuesday threw a few more EPL teams out of the competition, the biggest being Chelsea. They lost to Charlton 4-5 in penalties after the game ended at 1-1 after extra time (Robben,Darren Bent). Huth missed the penalty and Andersen was the hero for Charlton, keeping out the penalty. Thus ended Chelsea's dream of a quadruple for the season. Bolton won at home with a Borgetti winner in the second half. Everton's cup of woe runeth over with another loss, now to Middlesbrough. ManUtd gave starts to most of their young brigade and Rossi, Ebanks-Blake, Miller and Kiren on target after Barnet's goalkeeper was given marching order after just 2 minutes (due to handling the ball outside the penalty area). Shearer assured Newcastle's progess in the Cup with a winner 10 minutes from time.

Scores: (Click on Scores for Match Reports)
Birmingham 2-1 Norwich
Bolton 1-0 West Ham
Cardiff 0-1 Leicester
Everton 0-1 Middlesbrough
Chelsea 1-1 (4-5 P) Charlton
Man Utd 4-1 Barnet
Grimsby 0-1 Newcastle Utd

Double Standards!

It smells of that for sure. When Rooney got sent off against Villareal by Kim Nielsen, it was due to the same action (applauding sarcastically to the card) which got Becks sent off last weekend against Valencia which saw Real go down 1-2. Now Becks has won his appeal. Maybe the sending off was harsh, but look at what the committee says:

A statement from the committee, who fined Beckham 60 Euros (£40) over the incident, read: 'The player does applaud, but with his back to the director of the game, it is not in a confrontational attitude, but as he goes back to take up his position on the pitch.

'It is without doubt an attitude worthy of reproach, but which proceeds from the original protest,' continued the finding, contradicting Dauden Ibanez's assertion in his post'match report.

'In the 87th minute the player David Beckham was sent off for applauding in a mocking way after being booked,' wrote Ibanez.

But the committee stated: 'We appreciate in what happened, that there was no desire to insult or show disrespect to the referee, which leads us to sanction what happened as just one infraction.'

This is just too much! So facing a referee and clapping will get you sent off but if you do the same if you have your back to him it will not! Give me a break!

Carling Cup: Tuesday Round-up

The Tuesday matches had its share of thrills and spills, most notably that of Liverpool and Fulham from the Premier League. Liverpool got undone by Marco Reich after Gerrard had equalised. This leaves the Reds without no away wins this season which is absolutely shocking! Keep in mind that their form was horrific last season in the league but they won the Champions League nonetheless with their fighting spirit. Pretty sure, Rafa wants some of that pretty soon!!!
Arsenal's young brigade shone with Van Persie getting a brace as they outclassed Sunderland easily. Fulham were stumped with a Inamoto special (against his former club) in extra time.

The scores: (click on score to read match report)
Aston Villa 1-0 Burnley
Mansfield 2-3 Millwall
Reading 2-0 Sheffield United
Crystal Palace 2-1 Liverpool
Sunderland 0-3 Arsenal
Doncaster 2-0 Gillingham
Wigan 3-0 Watford
Fulham 2-3 West Brom
Blackburn 3-0 Leeds

Oh God!

Oh God,
I pray to thee.....please save Liverpool from relegation this season. All the strikers suck! Especially Mr. 7-million-pounds...Peter Crouch himself. Lose to Chelsea...ok. Lose to Fulham....bad,but can be forgiven. But lose to Crystal Palace in the 3rd round of the Carling Cup...that's it. I'm rooting for Charlton instead. Atleast they know how to WIN once or twice....not just DRAW or LOSE!!! As for Liverpool I'm just hoping they don't get relegated this year, which by the way seems like the year of the "underdogs". Go Charlton! Go Tottenham!

God have mercy....

Welcome to the ball game!

Welcome to the new abode for soccer news and views. As an afterthought, this would not be limited to only soccer but to all ball-games, though expect to see less of American football and Baseball. If you are interested to join the party, shoot off a comment and you would be posting here soon. While extreme and contrasting views are allowed (even to the extent of team/player bashing), use of profanities would not be allowed. That said, lets blog!