Premier Leagueish Stuff

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it has been a long time since I have even looked at this blog, let alone even tried to type a post. So like usual, a bunch of exciting events have happened in the football world since I last wrote.

The Premier league title battle is heating up once again, the once overly dominate Chelsea has slipped into some trouble as the overly rich Manchester City has decided they actually want to defend their title. With Yaya Toure back in the side, a revived City thrashed Newcastle 5-0 at the Etihad Stadium. Meanwhile... Chelsea tied Burnley at home 1-1! BURNLEY WENT TO THE BRIDGE AND GOT A POINT... WHAT? Chelsea did have a fierce midweek battle in the champions league with the French giants PSG, but with a bench as deep as the Mariana trench they should have been able to yield a side good enough to beat Burnley. Now City sits just five points back from Chelsea, they can smell blood.

For an Arsenal fan like me, the battle for fourth is always just as exciting as the battle for the title. HOW ABOUT THE GOONERS ending the weekend in 3rd? United lost to Jonjo Shelvey and the fighting Swans of Swansea 2-1 on Saturday while Southampton got bested by Liverpool 2-0 today. This leaves Arsenal in third and I'm glad, because for a few weeks I was really thinking we might, just might, not make the top four this season. There are more matches to be played though, so the battle for a spot in Europe is still very much a crazy race. Oh, and on the note of Jonjo Shelvey, I would like to say I've supported him since he played at Liverpool and I think he will become a great player. He always has an effect on the game, whether it is bad or good for his team, and he almost always has some great goal or assist.

The opposite end of the table is just as exciting as the top, or maybe more nerve racking than exciting... since the bottom three get sent back to the championship. My boys over in West London, QPR, have pulled themselves out the relegation zone for a split second. I hope they stay in the league for a long time because I've always supported them. QPR is tied with Burnley and Villa on points, but they have the better goal differential. While QPR, Villa and Burnley all have an okay chance to stay in the top flight of English Football, it's looking very bad for Leicester City. They have a shameful 18 points; it's a long way out of the relegation zone for them. City looked very promising at the start of their campaign but have since fallen. If Leicester does not start improving in a hurry, they will most definitely be gone from the EPL.

That's all for now! If I get the time to write more, make sure you come by and check it out.

Yedlin comes to North London

Right as I started writing again I realized that school was only a few days away, which means I could take another long break from posting on this blog. Hopefully I will have time to write every now and then.



I had to throw this in (Theodore P. Walcott)

Deandre Yedlin, before the World Cup not many people knew him. The Seattle Sounder right back was born and bred in the Emerald City (also home of great coffee). Yedlin was elected to the MLS all star team his first season in the league which was last year, so apparently some people already knew he had talent. He also just featured in the All Star game against Bayern Munich a few days ago. The only thing I really remember about Yedlin before the World Cup was his crazy hair style(s) he used to wear. Then that all changed in Brazil. Yedlin went from being MLS All Star quality to top flight European League quality. He electrified US crowds with fiery pace down the right wing and didn't do too bad defending. Once he got back to the USA rumors were already flying around him. Roma seemed to be the front runner for awhile but just the other day he didn't play for Seattle against Houston, where had he been? The great North London (its just great because of Arsenal by the way).



Dat hair doe (Deandre Yedlin)

Unfortunately he wasn't there for Arsenal, he was there for our cross town rivals, Tottenham. The Spuds, oops Spurs, were rumored for the past week or so to be looking at Yedlin. Yedlin has officially signed with Tottenham but will not join them until the 2015/16 season. I think he will join them as soon as the MLS season is over because as that is phrased "2015/16 season" means next August, which cant be right. But that's the way everyone is saying it, or at least the Daily Mail.

When I was in Seattle earlier this summer I actually got to see Yedlin play against Seattle's biggest rivals: the Portland Timbers. Clint Dempsey also started in that game and scored (Seattle won 2-0). Ever since Yedlin got his first minutes in the World Cup I knew he was a good player, he's been one of my favorites ever since. Now whenever he takes the pitch for the Spuds I'll have to root against him, so I better enjoy his play at Seattle while I can.

Come back and read more in the following days as I hope to post Premier League Predictions and Best and Worst Jerseys for the 2014/15 Season!



Ice Bucket Challenge

Well yes, it's been a long, long time since I last wrote a blog post. I think the last time I wrote was before the USA vs. Belgium knockout game in the World Cup. Wow! That was awhile ago and a lot of stuff has happened since then... like the actual final of the World Cup, plenty of transfers (and transfer rumors), new kit releases, and all the usual fun summer soccer stuff. One reason I didn't write was because I was in Seattle drinking coffee and exploring the Pikes Place Market, along with going to Soccer City USA (Portland), and eating maple cookies while in Canada. All that took place during the World Cup, so after watching all the group stage games I missed a lot of the knock out rounds. Luckily I did get to watch the final in my hotel room in Seattle. That was just 2 weeks out of my summer so you might say, "you gooner why didn't you write when you got home?". That's a pretty good question but I guess I was lazy or something like that. If there was one person to light the fuel to get me writing again it would be Pep Guardiola doing something as horrible as he is.

A few days ago the MLS all star game took place in Portland, a city I just enjoyed a few weeks ago. The all star team was very strong this year featuring players like Tim Cahill, Thierry Henry, Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley, Deandre "Soon to be a Spud" Yedlin, Nick Rimando, Landon Donovan, Bradley Wright Phillips, Diego Valeri and many, many more. They went up against the horrible coached, but still my second favorite team, Bayern Munich. The German giants started their new Polish star Robert Lewandoski and the Alpine Messi, Shaqiri. The other big stars were there and would feature a little later in the game. Although this was a friendly the MLS All-Stars clearly wanted to win but fell behind to a wonder goal from Lewandoski. I thought this was the start of a 7-0 defeat but it went into half time 1-0. Henry looked great for an old man, he had some great passes, great moves on the ball, and a few good looking shots.

At the beginning of the second half Caleb Porter subbed in 10 new all stars and left one out on the field, Thierry Henry. A minute or so into the half he subbed out Henry so he would get the standing ovation in what might be his last all star game as the French legend is thinking about retirement. Bradley Wright Phillips is having a great season up in New York for the Red Bulls and he showed how good of form he was in when Diego Valeri, playing on his home pitch, put a perfect ball over the top of the defense which was headed into the path of a surging Wright Phillips. Wright Phillips set him self up and blasted it passed the Bayern keeper. This tied the game up and gave the MLS momentum. And then who else but Landon Donovan to put one past Neuer to give the All Stars a win. Donovan was in a tight space but slid the ball right under the Golden Glove winner. He then took of his shirt and paraded around with his undershirt showing which read "take that Jurgen". Okay, maybe he didn't do that but he wanted to.

Yes the All Stars beat the German champs 2-1, but really it was still considered a friendly. I don't think this means Bayern will do horrible this season and I don't think it means the MLS is now the best league in the world, however it is good that the MLS can put up a fight against a team like Bayern. Sometimes these all star teams don't perform well... AT ALL. So it should make the MLS feel some what better as a league. I do think that its improved greatly just over the last three years, but more on that later.

The thing everyone will remember from this match was at the end when the worst coach in the world, Pep Guardiola didn't shake Caleb Porters hand, the All Star coach. During the second half 2 all stars made some questionable tackles on some of Munich's important players. There have been worse tackles but these might have been uncalled for. Still Guardiola didn't have to wave his finger at Caleb Porter who was trying to be nice and shake his hand, he might have told his players not to dive in and they just didn't listen. I know its a friendly Pep, but you came to play a game of soccer and every now and then something like that is going to happen. If Guardiola is such a gentleman like everyone says he is, he would've shaken Porter's hand and not ignored him. Not the "World Class Guardiola" I always hear about.

So some of you might I've heard about the Ice Bucket Challenge. I need to do a little more research on it but I know its raised money for ALS. Someone will pour a bucket of ice cold water on themselves and then challenge specific people to perform the challenge. If they don't pour icy cold water on themselves they are supposed to donate some money to help ALS. It's all about raising awareness for the disease. Well Caleb Porter decided to do that challenge and challenged a few people including Alex Morgan, Jurgen Klinsmann, and oh yeah, Pep "no handshake" Guaridiola. Will the Bayern coach participate, or leave Caleb Porter hanging again?

The Diving Dutchman and Costa Rica

Yesterday was a great day for football. I thought both games were played outstandingly. It was really entertaining combined with tons of controversy (say that in your best Ian Darke voice). Holland took on Mexico in a game where the on field temperature felt like 104 degrees Fahrenheit and Costa Rica took on Greece in a round of 16 game that not many people saw happening.

I really thought that the Netherlands would handle Mexico easily, that was not that case. Van Gaal made 3 changes from the Spain game, I didn't see that as a good idea because you shouldn't fix something that isn't broke. In the end it worked out but it was very hard for the Orange. After having a good first five minutes the Netherlands couldn't keep possession of the ball and Mexico dominated. The referee decided before the game to make sure there would be a water break at around the 30th minute and 70th minute. Van Gaal said after the game that he used these water breaks as a time to go to his plan b and talk to his players about their different tactics. Taylor Twellman and Alexi lalas said this is an unfair advantage because it was a timeout, but more on that later. Anyways the first goal didn't come until the second half when Giovani dos Santos hit a magical shot that put the Mexicans up 1-0. I knew the Dutch were in trouble now, they really hadn't looked that threatening the whole game. Memphis Depay was brought into the game at the 56th minute. Depay has been a super sub in this tournament, he's full of pace and he has some tricks up his sleeve. Dirk Kuyt, the old man as I call him, played a great game. He ran to every lose ball and really kept the Netherlands alive at the end of the game. The Dutch didn't make their break through until the 88th minute when Wesley
Sneijder hit a cracker of a volley off a corner. That gave the momentum back to Holland. Arjen Robben, who had another great game, gave Mexico trouble on the wings. Robben really wanted the win and when he went down in the box the Netherlands were awarded a penalty. Klaas Jan Huntelaar, the substitute, stepped up and slid the penalty into the side net. After the match Huntelaar actually said that Robben came up and asked him if he wanted to take it. This is pretty surprising considering Robben can sometimes be selfish when it comes to set pieces, him and Ribery have had some fights in the locker room at Munich. Robben isn't that good at penalties though, so he made the smartest decision. The Netherlands advanced to the quarter finals on that 94th minute penalty.

The big controversy after the game was whether the penalty was a dive by Robben. All though Robben is an expert diver, that was definitely a foul. People forget that you can embellish and it will still be a foul. Robben did make the most of it, he did flail his arms up, but there was contact and it was a foul. If you say that Robben's penalty wasn't a foul than Diego Costa's never should have been. He dragged his leg and used it to his advantage. Even though I hate Mexico they played really well and should be proud of their World Cup.

Alexi Lalas said that diving is a part of the game just as much as a professional foul to hold up play. He went on to say they are both skills that are hard to pull off and a player has all the right to use them. I don't think many people agree with that but at least its one side of the argument.

The second game yesterday was Costa Rica vs Greece. Not many people thought that this game would be taking place, but it did, and it was a pretty good game really. Although there were only 2 goals scored I thought it was entertaining. Costa Rica went ahead in the 52nd minute with a goal from Bryan Ruiz. The shot was very soft but its placement was so perfect that it slid into the side net of the goal. Costa Rica looked like they had won, then Oscar Duarte got his second yellow and was sent off. This really changed the game, luckily for Costa Rica they were playing against a team that doesn't attack very well. Costa Rica was so close to winning it, right until Sokratis Papastathopoulos scored in the 91st minute. This stunned the CONCACAF nation who were so close to a quarter final match against the Dutch. The match went into extra time and then to penalties. Costa Rica, despite having crazy tired legs, took some amazing penalties and eliminated Greece. The final was 5-3 on penalties.

France took on Nigeria today and Germany battled Algeria, more on that later. The USA takes on the Belgian Waffles tomorrow, should be a pretty good game. I'm giving the USA a slight chance but I do think this will be the end of the apple pies at this tournament. Belgium should advance but this World Cup has been full of surprises.

Dancing Columbians and Brazil thanks the Crossbar

Today was the beginning of knock out round play in the World Cup. Two very good games all including South American teams took place.

Brazil are many people's favorites to win the whole World Cup. They're on home soil where they hardly ever lose and they have giant amounts of talent. Today their World Cup dream almost ended, but thanks to some good play, a friendly crossbar, and an amazing goalie from the MLS they advance to the quarter finals.

Brazil took on Chile in Belo Horizonte on the fist day of knock out play. Chile had been the surprise team in group B knocking out Spain and coming in second in the group behind the Netherlands. Alexis Sanchez and Arturo Vidal have led Chile with some great play. The first half of the game was super exciting and played at a very high pace. The players ran end to end without much midfield play. David Luiz scored the first goal of the game off a corner. It might have been an own goal but for now we'll give the credit to the PSG man. After that the atmosphere in the stadium went crazy, Chile didn't give up though. After a small error by Hulk in his own half the Chileans acted quickly and Sanchez hit the back of the net. That tied the game 1-1 and that's how it would stay until penalty kicks. In the 119th minute Chile fired a shot from just outside the box. The shot had tremendous speed but it was denied by the crossbar. If that ball had hit the back of the net Brazil's World Cup probably would have been over. Julio Cesar has always been one of my favorite goalies, I've loved him since the World Cup in 2010. Sometimes he is criticized for not being as good as he should be. Today he had a great game and saved the first two penalty kicks from Chile. Brazil ended up winning in penalties 3-2.

Neymar didn't score, except in the shootout, but he made some great plays and I think he will cause more trouble in the following matches for Brazil. Fred and Jo, Brazil's strikers, have been pretty horrible so far this tournament. One of them, most likely going to be Fred, really needs to step up if Brazil wants to win the tournament. Chile played very well but just couldn't beat Brazil on Brazil's turf. Sanchez had a great game and Chile ran as hard as they could the whole game. They had a great tournament but meeting Brazil in the round of 16 is a tall order.

In the other Round of 16 game another all South American match took place, Uruguay vs Columbia. With Uruguay coming off the vampire drama I didn't think they would win, and they didn't. Columbia played great and their new star James (pronounced Hamez) Rodriguez played great again. He scored both goals for Columbia as they advanced to play Brazil with a 2-0 win. His first goal should be nominated for goal of the tournament with Tim Cahill's and Robin Van Persie's. He chested a header and with the ball coming down he took it on the full volley, it hit the crossbar and went down into the goal. He's been on great form this tournament and I hope Arsenal is interested in him.

I only had Columbia coming in second in their group then losing to the Italians in the Round of 16. We see how that worked out. I think the Brazil vs Columbia game will be interesting, Brazil should win but Columbia might make it a tough game. By they way, Columbia's celebrations are pretty good, all the dancing and stuff they do.

Come back for more World Cup coverage and fun stuff like that.

"Iron" Robben, the Golden Boy, and Messi the Messiah

This tournament has plenty of star players in it. So far some of the big names have really proved why they are so famous. Neymar, the golden boy, has played well in front of his home country, very well. I've always liked Neymar because he was one of those typical young players that had all the hype about them. Instead of following the trend and not being that good of a player, just being all hype, he actually proved that he could play very well. Plus he's entertaining to watch. I've been a fan of Arjen Robben for awhile ever since I started watching Bayern Munich play a few years ago. He looks like an old man but he's very pacey and has a magical left foot. A left foot that rivals that of Leo Messi. Messi, who as I've stated before is not my favorite player, really needed to have a great World Cup. So far, he has done that pretty well.

All three of those players has helped their country tremendously so far. They will be needed even more in the knockout stages of this tournament.

The Netherlands take on Mexico in the round of 16. I think the Dutch will handle them pretty well,
but Mexico did hold the Brazilians to a 0-0 draw. Arjen Robben has 3 goals and 1 assist so far in the World Cup. Two of his goals came in the dismantling of the former World Champion Spain. One of them was very important because it gave Holland the lead and the second one was a World Class goal as he stormed down the pitch with 99 pace (FIFA 14 reference), made Casillias fall to the ground, and hit a nice shot into the goal. He scored the first goal vs Australia and had the assist to Memphis Depay in the Chile game. Robben has looked very quick and he also got his mind set right for this tournament. He always knows where to be on the field, he's a pretty hard worker and he is a great compliment to Robin Van Persie and Wesley Sneijder. Robben could be up there for player of the tournament so far.

Neymar had all the pressure in the world on him at the beginning of this tournament. After getting down 1-0 to Croatia it had to be him to tie the game up 1-1. He went on to score a penalty in that game after Fred flopped like fish. Neymar also scored 2 very good goals against Cameroon. Brazil needs his pace and trickiness to succeed in this tournament. Although he hasn't bagged
an assist yet, he can pick out a great pass every now and then. After having all of Brazil's hopes placed on him through commercials, advertisements, etc, he has really proved how good he is.

When I have seen Messi play for Barcelona, which is not many times, I was never that impressed with him. I heard he could do some great things and that's why he's been FIFA player of the year so many times. Maybe I just always caught him on TV when he was having a bad game. So far this tournament he scored a great goal against Bosnia from outside of the box after running past a few players, he scored a cracker of a goal to give Argentina 3 points against Iran in stoppage time, and yesterday he scored 2 goals against Nigeria. Many people have Argentina going all the way and lifting the World Cup Trophy in Rio. They won't be able to do it without their star man.

It will be interesting to see how Robben, Neymar, and Messi play in the knock out rounds. All three of their countries have plenty of talent but just wouldn't be complete without them.

Suarez Bites another Chunk

Tuesday was the conclusion of the "Group of Champions". It's called the group of champions because it includes 3 teams that are former champions of the World Cup: Uruguay, Italy, and England. Not one of them topped the group, the small CONCACAF nation of Costa Rica emerged out of what should've been a group of death for them to win the group. Yesterday all they had to do was tie against England to win the group and that's what they did. It didn't look like they played for a tie, it just happened to go their way. I was actually watching the Costa Rica vs England game instead of the Italy game because I wanted to see how Wilshere and Lallana played, along with the fact I just like watching England. Then Ian Darke mentioned that the Uruguayan vampire was at it again. I quickly switched channels to see what was unfolding. Just a few minutes after I switched channels the Atletico Madrid man, Diego Godin, scored what would be the winning goal for Uruguay. Godin scored the goal that gave Atletico the La Liga title, he scored in the champions league final, and has now scored in the World Cup. Italy had taken Balotelli out and they just couldn't hit the back of the net. Some people have accused the Italians of playing for a draw, which would have sent them through. They probably should've tried to be a little more attacking. I like a few players on Italy so it was sad to see them go, but unfortunately after a great game of football the headlines were all on Suarez.

Suarez has bit 2 players in his career, or I guess now that would be 3. Chiellini was the victim this time. Suarez had to save a bite for the world's biggest stage didn't he? But its pretty sad that he did it because Suarez is a World Class player and is one of the best strikers on the planet; this biting incident might get him suspended for the rest of the World Cup. Coming off a great year at Liverpool he would have a major impact in the knock out stages for Uruguay. Not only can he finish chances off, but he can also set up his teammates. On the bright sight, twitter and the rest of the internet have really made the most of their opportunities to create funny pictures dealing with his vampirish act.

It would have been interesting to see how England performed with Theo Walcott or Oxlade-Chamberlain. Neither of them might have played, but if they did they might have made a difference. Also, it looked to me like Roy Hodgson went the "Liverpool way" instead of playing his best players in the match against Italy, but they could've been his best players.

In group C Greece and the Ivory Coast battled it out to for the opportunity to play in the knock out stages. Greece ended up winning (


to my surprise) and advanced. Columbia won the group pretty convincingly and might be a surprise in this tournament. I didn't get to watch either of the group C games but I heard that Columbia was very dominant over Japan.

Well so far my ESPN World Cup bracket has been pretty bad. I'm ranked 488,720 in the world. Costa Rica and Mexico really messed it up. I think Costa Rica messed everyone's up haha. But come back for more World Cup Coverage.