Well this is one of my first real time event blogs in a while, so bear with me. As it may get a little choppy.
Summer is here and has been for a month or two now, which means the summer transfer window has opened. Of course all the crazy rumors are going around and people start to wonder if anything can be true! Americans coming to the Premier League? Fuzzy Belgians moving teams? Wayne Rooney leaving or staying? Many, many more are floating around!
Jozy Altidore, a player who I do not really like, has been on great form for the United States National team lately and he is ready to make his move to England. Not the Championship, or League 1, but the Premier League!! Sunderland is the team interested and has apparently made the deal. As much as I don't like Altidore, I'm glad to see an American play with high quality players. I think its great for the National team! This will be his second go in the Premier League after playing with Hull City in the 2009/2010 season. It didn't go to well, but you have to remember Altidore is only 23. So he's young and has improved a lot. It will be interesting to see what he can do in his return to the Barclays Premier League.
Marouane Fellaini has been wanting to play with a higher quality side then Everton after having a pretty nice season at the Merseyside. Many teams have said they're interested in him and he brings a few qualities. He's tall and a good aerial threat, but he can also pass and win possession. Arsenal, who needs another big tall guy besides Giroud, have said they are interested. You can never tell with them, but as an Arsenal fan I hope they get him. One of the big problems with Fellaini is that he is not very consistent. When he does get on a good run of form, he might do something crazy like elbow a Stoke player. In the end I think he's worth it for many teams. I think he will leave Everton.
Wayne Rooney has been a big story. Nobody can ever tell what's going to happen to the English man. The latest news is that David Moyes, new Man U boss, is going to keep Rooney no matter what. Of course, any player is always for sale as long as the number is big enough. But will Rooney impact Man U? Do they really need him? He brings something Van Persie does not! He brings a passing game and plays defense. An overall hard worker. The counter to that is, he wants to be the star, and I do not see that happening. The problem for many teams are his wages. The amount of money needed to pay him is too high. So, unfortunately, I see him actually staying at Man U. Why would he go to Chelsea or Real Madrid if he wanted to be the star?
Don't forget to eat your frosted mini wheats every morning!
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Wienerschniztel vs. Cheeseburger
So, while in Europe I went to tour the amazing Allianz Arena. The home of FC Bayern Munich, triple winners. 1860 Munich also plays there but has to rent the stadium from Bayern for about 10 Million Euros a season. Yeah, a lot of money just to play in a stadium, but hey, its awesome. Well the 1860 Munich 2nd team (not even the 1st team 1860 Munich) had a playoff game at the Allianz the night I went to tour. So we went and watched the match. It then gave me a wonderful idea: to compare the play of the 4th league German division to the MLS.
Firstly, you can tell the style of play is totally different. The MLS these days are really are about tall and strong guys. Of course there are the short quick players too, but aerial threats seem to be an important part of the MLS game. Meanwhile in the German 4th division, its more European style. The quick short passes, with the occasional thru-ball. Both are fun to compare to each other. And it was fun seeing a different style of play.
If FC Dallas played the 2nd 1860 Munich team I would think it would be a super close game. I really do not think the quality of the 4th division play was that high. I might actually edge out FC Dallas 3-1 or something like that. The thing that would be interesting to see in the match is how FC Dallas adapted to the passing. When I have been to a couple of their games, I can see that it's hard for them to get a great string of passes on the ground going. While 1860 Munich tied some pretty good strings of passes together. Then you could counter that with how would 1860 Munich deal with the physical part of the game and defending set pieces (although they did score off a set piece in the playoff match).
So when the crazy announcer during an MLS game says "wow I think most of the MLS players are as good or are better than the players in Germany", he might be talking about the German 4th division.
Come back next time and read. I think I've got some pretty good editions coming out.
Firstly, you can tell the style of play is totally different. The MLS these days are really are about tall and strong guys. Of course there are the short quick players too, but aerial threats seem to be an important part of the MLS game. Meanwhile in the German 4th division, its more European style. The quick short passes, with the occasional thru-ball. Both are fun to compare to each other. And it was fun seeing a different style of play.
If FC Dallas played the 2nd 1860 Munich team I would think it would be a super close game. I really do not think the quality of the 4th division play was that high. I might actually edge out FC Dallas 3-1 or something like that. The thing that would be interesting to see in the match is how FC Dallas adapted to the passing. When I have been to a couple of their games, I can see that it's hard for them to get a great string of passes on the ground going. While 1860 Munich tied some pretty good strings of passes together. Then you could counter that with how would 1860 Munich deal with the physical part of the game and defending set pieces (although they did score off a set piece in the playoff match).
So when the crazy announcer during an MLS game says "wow I think most of the MLS players are as good or are better than the players in Germany", he might be talking about the German 4th division.
Come back next time and read. I think I've got some pretty good editions coming out.
Monday, July 1, 2013
Belgian Waffles
It has been a long time since I stepped foot into Just Plain Football. I'm sure all my wonderful readers have missed me very, very much. Last summer I created this masterpiece and planned to keep writing it forever, with no breaks. Then school hit. Time was short and all the creativity I had was sucked out of me at school. Next, the beginning of this summer came into focus. But, I went to Europe on a great 3 week journey and toured many amazing places. Some of you probably read "Food and Football: a europe journey" Well now I'm back and ready to write expert blogs and give expert insight on the world of football. Hope you enjoy my long awaited return:
No, in Europe I did not visit Belgium. Although, a thought did come to me! Why is Belgium's National team not good? Shouldn't they be amazing? I mean look at their lineup, it boasts many Premier League Players including: Courtois, Mignolet, Vermaelen, Vertonghen, Kompany, Fellaini, Dembele, De Bruyne (now a free agent), Hazard, Mirallas, and Lukaku. Hazard did not even start in their World Cup Qualifier vs Serbia. The supporting players of these Premier League players are really good too, or on club level anyways. Maybe it's because they are just young or something like that. The experience could be lacking. The chemistry might not be there yet, but it will come. There are 3 reasons you should be afraid of the up and coming Belgium team: scorers/passers, good goalie's, and a good balance.
Eden Hazard joined Chelsea just his season. He impressed right away. Some players have trouble adjusting to the Premier League, not him. He was part of Chelsea's first "blank number of goals". I forgot how many but I remember it was an insane amount. So he either scored or assisted Chelsea's first few goals this season. Dembele and Mirallas are both good playmakers too. Especially the young Mirallas, he has ability to score and assist. The point of all these opinions/facts is..... everybody on the team has talent. Nobody seems to just be a Chamak and stand around and do nothing for 90 minutes.
Belgium have 2 fantastic goal keepers. I was surprised when I looked at the starting lineup of one of their World Cup Qualifiers and saw Courtois starting instead of Mignolet. I thought, who is this guy? Then I did some research and found out he is pretty boss too. Since I got to watch a lot of the Premier League games on TV, I saw what skills Mignolet had. It just sucks that Sunderland could not do anything to protect him, or even score on the other side of the field. I've seen potatoes more exciting then that team, oh well they stayed in the top flight though. Courtois has been on loan from Chelsea to Atheltico Madrid for 3 years now! He's earned some experience there and when Petr Cech finally retires, he will probably take his spot. Mignolet is looking for a bigger and better club, he might of found one already! So these 2 keepers are good for a National team. Let's face it, some National teams just have sucky goalies.
Lastly, the balance of short,tall,strong, and weak players look great on the Belgium side. You have strong and buff defenders like Kompany. Strong midfielders like Fellaini who had an excellent season this year. Then Lukaku up front, who had a great season on loan, is strong in the sense of physical strong too. Hazard and Mirallas are quick and have good control, while Vermalen, who did not have the best season at Arsenal, is a pretty quick and tall defender. This mix of players is good for any national team. England's youth system focuses a little too much on the buff part of the game these days. They might need to take a look at what Belgium is doing.
Well thanks for reading on my first day back in the Just Plain Football world. Don't forget to eat your waffles......
No, in Europe I did not visit Belgium. Although, a thought did come to me! Why is Belgium's National team not good? Shouldn't they be amazing? I mean look at their lineup, it boasts many Premier League Players including: Courtois, Mignolet, Vermaelen, Vertonghen, Kompany, Fellaini, Dembele, De Bruyne (now a free agent), Hazard, Mirallas, and Lukaku. Hazard did not even start in their World Cup Qualifier vs Serbia. The supporting players of these Premier League players are really good too, or on club level anyways. Maybe it's because they are just young or something like that. The experience could be lacking. The chemistry might not be there yet, but it will come. There are 3 reasons you should be afraid of the up and coming Belgium team: scorers/passers, good goalie's, and a good balance.
Eden Hazard joined Chelsea just his season. He impressed right away. Some players have trouble adjusting to the Premier League, not him. He was part of Chelsea's first "blank number of goals". I forgot how many but I remember it was an insane amount. So he either scored or assisted Chelsea's first few goals this season. Dembele and Mirallas are both good playmakers too. Especially the young Mirallas, he has ability to score and assist. The point of all these opinions/facts is..... everybody on the team has talent. Nobody seems to just be a Chamak and stand around and do nothing for 90 minutes.
Belgium have 2 fantastic goal keepers. I was surprised when I looked at the starting lineup of one of their World Cup Qualifiers and saw Courtois starting instead of Mignolet. I thought, who is this guy? Then I did some research and found out he is pretty boss too. Since I got to watch a lot of the Premier League games on TV, I saw what skills Mignolet had. It just sucks that Sunderland could not do anything to protect him, or even score on the other side of the field. I've seen potatoes more exciting then that team, oh well they stayed in the top flight though. Courtois has been on loan from Chelsea to Atheltico Madrid for 3 years now! He's earned some experience there and when Petr Cech finally retires, he will probably take his spot. Mignolet is looking for a bigger and better club, he might of found one already! So these 2 keepers are good for a National team. Let's face it, some National teams just have sucky goalies.
Lastly, the balance of short,tall,strong, and weak players look great on the Belgium side. You have strong and buff defenders like Kompany. Strong midfielders like Fellaini who had an excellent season this year. Then Lukaku up front, who had a great season on loan, is strong in the sense of physical strong too. Hazard and Mirallas are quick and have good control, while Vermalen, who did not have the best season at Arsenal, is a pretty quick and tall defender. This mix of players is good for any national team. England's youth system focuses a little too much on the buff part of the game these days. They might need to take a look at what Belgium is doing.
Well thanks for reading on my first day back in the Just Plain Football world. Don't forget to eat your waffles......
Friday, March 22, 2013
USA vs Costa Rica: Nike no orange ball and Jermaine Jones looks good in white hair.
The United States went into Commerce City, Colorado on Friday night in a must win situation. After losing their first game to Honduras, they sat at the bottom of their World Cup Qualifying group. Another loss could not be afforded. Costa Rica were the opposition who made the journey to Colorado and were met with a big surprise. A blizzard.
As the fans packed into the sold out stadium, the snow was coming down pretty good. The temperature was a chilly 29 degrees Fahrenheit. Grounds crews shoveled up as much snow as they could before the game, making sure to highlight the 18 yard box, midfield, and the out of bounds lines. The US were in there brand new centennial jersey. The only problem with that was, they're white. But oh well most people could see them. Remember when Nike made that awesome new match ball for this season? Well they forgot one thing. To make an orange one. The brightest it comes in is yellow. Which from the TV screen looked very difficult to track. Even the commentators at the game had trouble seeing the ball. I would thing a huge company like Nike could make an orange ball. Anyway lets get to the action.
The US started the match off with a lot of control. Their passes were not as sloppy as we have seen in previous games. In the 16th minute Jozy Altidore (who I hate) took a shot from outside the box, or just in it, which deflected of a Costa Rican player and fell to the newly named captain Clint Dempsey. It was an easy finish for the him and it put the Americans up 1-0. I actually couldn't see the goal on my tv, I just saw Altidore's shot then heard the crowd go wild. It was a good thing the US scored early, because the conditions of the pitch got worse as the game when on. Every time the ball went out a person would shovel as much snow as they could off the field before the match resumed. The ref, at any moment, could pause the game if he wanted to, or stop it for good. Luckily the game went with no interruptions through half time.
In the second half Costa Rica came out with the upper hand. They kept it in the US half of the field. As the blizzard got worse and worse, the ref stopped the game. Juergen Klinsmann, the United States head coach, was furious. All the US players went over and talked to the ref. More surprisingly, so did the Costa Rican players. Costa Rica felt they had control of the play at the time and they wanted to keep playing. After a 2-3 minute conversation the game got underway again. The US soon picked up control again. They kept it that way most of the game. At the 90 minute mark, 5 minutes were added on. Costa Rica had a few set pieces in the time, but could not convert. The game ended 1-0. The United States taking the needed 3 points.
Brad Guzan had a solid game. Not many tough saves were needed though. Tim Howard has a few broken bones in his back, so Guzan was called up. Geoff Cameron did not have the best game and had a few cheap giveaways. Jermaine Jones also had a solid game and left with snow in his hair.
As the fans packed into the sold out stadium, the snow was coming down pretty good. The temperature was a chilly 29 degrees Fahrenheit. Grounds crews shoveled up as much snow as they could before the game, making sure to highlight the 18 yard box, midfield, and the out of bounds lines. The US were in there brand new centennial jersey. The only problem with that was, they're white. But oh well most people could see them. Remember when Nike made that awesome new match ball for this season? Well they forgot one thing. To make an orange one. The brightest it comes in is yellow. Which from the TV screen looked very difficult to track. Even the commentators at the game had trouble seeing the ball. I would thing a huge company like Nike could make an orange ball. Anyway lets get to the action.
The US started the match off with a lot of control. Their passes were not as sloppy as we have seen in previous games. In the 16th minute Jozy Altidore (who I hate) took a shot from outside the box, or just in it, which deflected of a Costa Rican player and fell to the newly named captain Clint Dempsey. It was an easy finish for the him and it put the Americans up 1-0. I actually couldn't see the goal on my tv, I just saw Altidore's shot then heard the crowd go wild. It was a good thing the US scored early, because the conditions of the pitch got worse as the game when on. Every time the ball went out a person would shovel as much snow as they could off the field before the match resumed. The ref, at any moment, could pause the game if he wanted to, or stop it for good. Luckily the game went with no interruptions through half time.
In the second half Costa Rica came out with the upper hand. They kept it in the US half of the field. As the blizzard got worse and worse, the ref stopped the game. Juergen Klinsmann, the United States head coach, was furious. All the US players went over and talked to the ref. More surprisingly, so did the Costa Rican players. Costa Rica felt they had control of the play at the time and they wanted to keep playing. After a 2-3 minute conversation the game got underway again. The US soon picked up control again. They kept it that way most of the game. At the 90 minute mark, 5 minutes were added on. Costa Rica had a few set pieces in the time, but could not convert. The game ended 1-0. The United States taking the needed 3 points.
Brad Guzan had a solid game. Not many tough saves were needed though. Tim Howard has a few broken bones in his back, so Guzan was called up. Geoff Cameron did not have the best game and had a few cheap giveaways. Jermaine Jones also had a solid game and left with snow in his hair.
Thursday, March 21, 2013
I'm back and so is the MLS!
That's right people, I'm back. The last time I posted seemed to have been a million years ago!
The Major League Soccer (MLS) season started just a few weeks ago. The first week came with a giant upset in Seattle. The Montreal Impact traveled to Seattle to play the Sounders. Seattle is not an easy place for the opposing team. Montreal was not troubled by the noisy crowd and came out with a 1-0 win. Montreal went on to win their next 2 games and sit upon the top of the Eastern Conference. To add to the glory of their 3 wins, one of the wins was against their rivals Toronto FC. It will be fun to watch and see if the Impact will continue their run of form. Is this their year? Well probably not, but we will see!
FC Dallas made it 2 wins out of 3 in the Texas Derby on Sunday. I happened to go to the game. The game was great and lived up to the "Derby" hype. FC Dallas sprang out to a 2-0 lead, then in the second half Houston came and tied it up 2-2. In the 90th minute Michel, who was voted player of the game, crossed the ball into the box and Kenny Cooper headed it down, then poked it in to make the score 3-2. The game ended that way and all the Dallas fans were happy that they could finally celebrate a Texas Derby win again. The only problem with Cooper's header was, it could have been called a hand ball. When I got home and looked the amazing play up on Youtube, you could see that Cooper's head missed the ball and hit his bicep, then rolled down his arm. There is argument whether a handball should have been called or not (of course one was not). Some of the Youtube comments include: That it was not a hand ball because his arms were in a natural position and he tried to head it, or it was a scoring chance so even though it was unintentional, it should have been called.
The MLS youtube channel posts the highlights of all its league matches, so if you miss a game go check it out.
I hope to write more often then I have been!!
The Major League Soccer (MLS) season started just a few weeks ago. The first week came with a giant upset in Seattle. The Montreal Impact traveled to Seattle to play the Sounders. Seattle is not an easy place for the opposing team. Montreal was not troubled by the noisy crowd and came out with a 1-0 win. Montreal went on to win their next 2 games and sit upon the top of the Eastern Conference. To add to the glory of their 3 wins, one of the wins was against their rivals Toronto FC. It will be fun to watch and see if the Impact will continue their run of form. Is this their year? Well probably not, but we will see!
FC Dallas made it 2 wins out of 3 in the Texas Derby on Sunday. I happened to go to the game. The game was great and lived up to the "Derby" hype. FC Dallas sprang out to a 2-0 lead, then in the second half Houston came and tied it up 2-2. In the 90th minute Michel, who was voted player of the game, crossed the ball into the box and Kenny Cooper headed it down, then poked it in to make the score 3-2. The game ended that way and all the Dallas fans were happy that they could finally celebrate a Texas Derby win again. The only problem with Cooper's header was, it could have been called a hand ball. When I got home and looked the amazing play up on Youtube, you could see that Cooper's head missed the ball and hit his bicep, then rolled down his arm. There is argument whether a handball should have been called or not (of course one was not). Some of the Youtube comments include: That it was not a hand ball because his arms were in a natural position and he tried to head it, or it was a scoring chance so even though it was unintentional, it should have been called.
The MLS youtube channel posts the highlights of all its league matches, so if you miss a game go check it out.
I hope to write more often then I have been!!
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
German and Spanish League Roundup
Before we get to the Bundesliga and La Liga, Manchester City played in the Capital One Cup today against Aston Villa. The result was a Villa win 4-2. The performance from Man City was said to be disappointing. It's not like City was playing a bunch of their backups and even if they where their backups are pretty good expensive players. It started off good for City when Balotelli scored but from then on it was not good for the Citizens. Manchester City will now be eliminated from the tournament.
Bayern Munich made it a five out of five start by winning against Wolfsburg at the Allianz Arena. Bayern has looked very good at the start of the season, while defending champions Borussia Dortmund are not doing so great. They tied there last game against Eintracht Frankfurt 3-3. Schalke continues to fight at the top of the table with a nice 3-0 victory over Mainz. The standings right now say that Bayern Munich is in first with Eintracht Frankfurt in second and Schalke in third. Borussia Dortmund is a disappointing fifth. And just to let you know Eintracht Frankfurt is a new promoted team to the Bundesliga.
In Spain Barcelona has also made it a five of out five start and are at the top of the table. Malaga is in a surprise postion of third. And Real Madrid is all the way in second. You can probably expect Madrid to start back up again and challange for the top, but right now they have a long way to go.
Thanks for reading today, come back soon!
Bayern Munich made it a five out of five start by winning against Wolfsburg at the Allianz Arena. Bayern has looked very good at the start of the season, while defending champions Borussia Dortmund are not doing so great. They tied there last game against Eintracht Frankfurt 3-3. Schalke continues to fight at the top of the table with a nice 3-0 victory over Mainz. The standings right now say that Bayern Munich is in first with Eintracht Frankfurt in second and Schalke in third. Borussia Dortmund is a disappointing fifth. And just to let you know Eintracht Frankfurt is a new promoted team to the Bundesliga.
In Spain Barcelona has also made it a five of out five start and are at the top of the table. Malaga is in a surprise postion of third. And Real Madrid is all the way in second. You can probably expect Madrid to start back up again and challange for the top, but right now they have a long way to go.
Thanks for reading today, come back soon!
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Champions League Action
So far this week there has been a few UEFA Champion's League games, including Arsenal vs. Montpellier and Real Madrid vs. Manchester City .
Arsenal started off really bad against Montpellier when Thomas Vemaelen took down a player just inside the box. The foul might have been outside the box and it might have not even been a foul and at all. But the ref called it and Montpellier took advantage, taking the lead 1-0. The rest of the first half was all Arsenal from there on. Podolski scored his first Champion's League goal for Arsenal and his third of the season. Then Gervinho scored to put Arsenal up 2-1. The second half was opposite from the first half because Montpellier had most of the controll, but could not make anything out of their chances. Arsenal wins 2-1.
Real Madrid vs. Man City was a great game. There was 5 goals scored in the game and all of them came in the second half. City struck first with Dzeko. Then just about 7 minutes later Marcelo scored a deflected shot to tie it up. Then Man City got a free kick from a kind of weird angle which Kolarov crossed into the middle. The ball missed everybody including the Madrid keeper and that gave City the lead once again. But the sub Benzema took two nice touches around a defender after recieving a pass and scored with a great finish. 2-2 was now the score and it looked like a tie was brewing, but Ronaldo got the ball and dipped it under Joe Hart then it bounced into the goal. It was a skillful strike. Madrid wins 3-2.
Arsenal started off really bad against Montpellier when Thomas Vemaelen took down a player just inside the box. The foul might have been outside the box and it might have not even been a foul and at all. But the ref called it and Montpellier took advantage, taking the lead 1-0. The rest of the first half was all Arsenal from there on. Podolski scored his first Champion's League goal for Arsenal and his third of the season. Then Gervinho scored to put Arsenal up 2-1. The second half was opposite from the first half because Montpellier had most of the controll, but could not make anything out of their chances. Arsenal wins 2-1.
Real Madrid vs. Man City was a great game. There was 5 goals scored in the game and all of them came in the second half. City struck first with Dzeko. Then just about 7 minutes later Marcelo scored a deflected shot to tie it up. Then Man City got a free kick from a kind of weird angle which Kolarov crossed into the middle. The ball missed everybody including the Madrid keeper and that gave City the lead once again. But the sub Benzema took two nice touches around a defender after recieving a pass and scored with a great finish. 2-2 was now the score and it looked like a tie was brewing, but Ronaldo got the ball and dipped it under Joe Hart then it bounced into the goal. It was a skillful strike. Madrid wins 3-2.
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