Posts Tagged Lionel Messi
Over the Weekend: Nigerian Club Football Decay, No More Blue Clay & More
Posted by Emi Michael in My Word on..., Over the Weekend on May 6, 2013
Nigerian club football, as far as this season is concerned, sunk into the abyss of irrelevance over the weekend when her last continental representative got knocked out at the last qualifying round before, by African (CAF) standards, the lucrative group stage.
Needing a score-draw at least to qualify, having played out a goalless draw in the first leg in Enugu a fortnight ago, Rangers fell 3-1 at Recreativo do Libolo of Angola and failed to make the Champions League group stage, barely four months after Sunshine Stars made the semi-final of last season’s edition.
Defending champions Al Ahly, that beat Sunshine on their way to the title last season, made it through to the group stage now with a 2-1 aggregate win over Tunisia’s Bizertin, while Zamalek had Abdoulaye Cisse to thank as his brace, the second being the equaliser two minutes to full time, earned a 2-2 draw for the Cairo club at St. George of Ethiopia and qualification on away goals.
Tunisian giants Esperance also made it through with a lone goal aggregate win over Algeria’s Beja but DR Congo’s TP Mazembe fell short against 10-man Orlando Pirates of South Africa, winning the return home leg by a lone goal but losing to the Bucs 3-2 on aggregate.
The 2011 African champions will be weighed down by a heap of regret from the encounter, having had two penalties either side of the match’s lone goal saved by the Pirates goalkeeper, with the second penalty saved on the 89th minute.
Scant consolation for the Congolese side, along with Enugu Rangers and the other clubs that lost in the final qualifying round of the Champions League, is the drop to the CAF Confederations Cup they’ll make, as is the case in Europe.
England meanwhile still awaits who her third and possible fourth representatives at next season’s UEFA Champions League would be after the trio of clubs chasing those two spots won their respective Premier League matches by a lone goal over the weekend.
Tottenham Hotspur first replaced Arsenal in fourth place and went level on 65 points with then third placed Chelsea, thanks to a late Gareth Bale strike in the win at home to the Welshman’s former club Southampton.
Another ex-saint however sent Spurs back to fifth and Arsenal up to third on 67 points, as Theo Walcott’s goal 20 seconds into the match at already relegated Queens Park Rangers put the Gunners two points clear of their top four London rivals for a day.
The initial third to fifth league table positions from the start of the weekend was restored on Sunday evening as a late Phil Jones own goal (initially awarded as a Juan Mata goal) gave Chelsea a crucial win at league champions Manchester United.
Interestingly, the win at Old Trafford, coupled with Manchester City’s goalless draw at Swansea City, put Chelsea four points behind the dethroned league champions with both Blues having three matches left to play.
Man. City could however seal second spot with a win on Tuesday night at home to West Brom, as long as Chelsea fail to win Wednesday night’s pseudo-Cup final at home to Tottenham, where a win for the latter would draw them level with Chelsea and drop Arsenal to fifth, a point behind, all with two matches to play then… thus presenting a real and dramatic possibility of Arsenal not making the Champions League for the first time in the Wenger era.
However, even if Spurs do win at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday, one can hear many a gooner go “nehh, it’s Spurs! They’ll still f*** it up!”… time will tell.
That time is all of a sudden running out for Fulham, Sunderland, Newcastle United, Southampton, Norwich City and Wigan Athletic in their quest to avoid the last reservation in a sinking relegation cruise that has QPR and Reading comfortably lodged in.
Fulham did itself no favour by losing 4-2 at home to Reading, a result that leaves the Cottagers on 40 points and five points off the relegation zone, while Newcastle United drew goalless at West Ham United to find themselves three points off that reservation with 38 points.
Aston Villa attained 40 points, behind Fulham and Stoke City on goal difference, thanks to a 2-1 win at Norwich that as a result dropped within three points of the drop zone, ahead of Newcastle on goal difference.
And with Sunderland, that got blown 6-1 by Villa last Monday, just two points off Wigan Athletic that currently occupies the unwanted 18th position, Callum McNamara’s late winner for Wigan in the 3-2 win at West Brom could prove a most decisive goal just because Wigan have a game in hand which they play on Tuesday at home to Swansea that is winless in six matches.
A win for Wigan in that match and they go level in points with but ahead of Norwich and Newcastle on the table with two matches to play, potentially setting up an eight-way scramble from the last relegation reservation, which would be far more interesting and dramatic than the tussle for top four places.
Probably would be as dramatic as the final day in the Championship (the teams above are fighting against to drop into) which saw Hull City gain promotion to the Premier League thanks to a 2-2 draw with already promoted Cardiff City, finishing two points ahead of Watford City that would have got that promotion had it won its match at home to Leeds United, instead of losing 2-1.
Watford instead will go through the playoffs now to gain promotion, along with Brighton, Wilfried Zaha’s Crystal Palace and Leicester City that finished in the last playoff spot ahead of Bolton Wanderers on goal difference and ahead of Nottingham Forest, where they won 3-2 thanks to a late goal, by a point.
Elsewhere in Europe, Juventus won its 29th Serie A title after a lone goal win over Palermo, while Napoli consolidated on second spot with an Edinson Cavani inspired 3-1 win over Inter Milan and AC Milan won by a lone goal to open a four point lead in third place over Fiorentina that lost to a lone stoppage time Osvaldo goal at home to fifth placed AS Roma.
Roma’s city rivals and Coppa Italia final opponent, Lazio demolished visiting Bologna 6-0 with 34 year old Miroslav Klose scoring an incredible five goals, but remain in seventh, three points behind Roma with three matches to play.
In Spain and France, Barcelona and PSG were made to wait another week before claiming their respective league titles with Barcelona made to (was going to write “work hard” but… ) call on Messi who scored twice and hit the crossbar within 10 minutes of coming on (seems so unfair) to secure a 4-2 win over Real Betis to restore their 11 point advantage over Real Madrid that won 4-3 at home to Real Valladolid with four matches to play. All in a half hour’s job for the reigning world player of the year.
Alex meanwhile earned 10-man PSG a 1-1 draw at home to Valenciennes, leaving Les Parisiens needing a win in this weekend’s visit of third placed Olympique Lyon, or a draw there and a loss to Olympique Marseille to claim a first league title since 1994. That’s 19 years Arsenal fans, be calm and take note.
In Germany, a dress rehearsal of the UEFA Champions League saw Borussia Dortmund held to a 1-1 draw by Bayern Munich in a match Manuel Neuer saved a Robert Lewsndowski penalty while Rafinha got sent off following two yellow cards in as many minutes, sparking an amusing melee between camps of both sides on the sidelines. May 25 better be even more interesting.
While Bayern and Dortmund’s title match is still to come, Wladimir Klitschko and Floyd Mayweather retained theirs in the boxing ring, overcoming challenges from Francesco Pianeta and Robert Guerrero respectively.
For Klitschko, the Ukrainian won after knocking his former sparring partner Pianeta out a third time on the night in the sixth round and claim a 51st win via knockout in 60 professional fights.
For Mayweather, the money man retained his title by an unanimous decision that saw all three judges give him the fight with a count of 117-111 against a previously unbeaten Guerrero, extending his own unbeaten record in boxing to 44 wins and reportedy earning at least $32.5m from the fight.
The prize money at the Madrid Open in tennis isn’t anywhere near that figure, but some of the sports’ top players will compete at the clay surface tournament that returns to conventional red clay after unsuccessfully experimenting with blue clay last year.
Women’s number one player Serena Williams along with Svetlana Kuznetsova, Ana Ivanovic, Petra Kvitova and Angelique Kerber are through to the second round there while Caroline Wozniacki and Li Na however got knocked out in straight sets by Yaroslava Shvedova and 18 year old qualifier Madison Keys respectively.
In the men’s, Fernando Verdasco and Radek Stepanek have made it to the second round while the top seeds; the Djokovices, Federers and Nadals, will serve their campaign off from later today.
And that’s game, set, match with today’s post. I’m not even going to front, Chelsea has to beat Tottenham on Wednesday night for Arsenal’s sake.
Have a great week ahead; except you’re Tottenham. 😐
Over the Weekend: New Managers, New Ranking Order and More
Posted by Emi Michael in My Word on... on April 1, 2013
Easter greetings to you as the long weekend snails to an end, with the unpleasantly pleasant day of April Fools’ being its last day. Will there be pranks in the following paragraphs? Having supported Arsenal for the better part of the last 15 years going on 16 and lived through Wenger’s press conferences all that time… “I don’t want to comment on speculation.”
The Arsenal manager had little need for evasive answers however, following the club’s 4-1 win over relegation threatened Reading on Saturday in Nigel Adkins first match as Reading manager, having lost 6-1 to Arsenal earlier this season while at Southampton.
The result took the Gunners within two points of fourth place on the Premier League table; a spot currently occupied by Chelsea that was beaten 2-1 at Southampton. Chelsea’s loss favoured all concerned at north London; a bit to every gooners’ dismay though, as Tottenham Hotspur went up to third place, two points ahead of Chelsea, with a 2-1 win at a Swansea City side that look like it can’t be bothered to having a go in matches ever since claiming the League Cup title.
Knew such could happen after Swans manager Michael Laudrup felt after that League Cup win that getting 10 points from their last 10 matches/30 points would be alright. Swansea’s seeming nonchalance has now ‘helped’ both north London clubs in the club’s last two league matches; very much to every Chelsea fan’s disappointment I imagine.
With the yet-to-be-relieved interim manager Rafael Benitez tinkering his team; most notably leaving out Juan Mata (who officially was ill), one may want to blame the loss at the coast on the Blues having an eye on tonight’s FA Cup quarterfinal replay at home to Manchester United.
However, the Red Devils, also with an eye on tonight’s tie, had manager Sir Alex Ferguson shuffling the team just a bit in the early kick-off at Sunderland and still coming away with a lone goal win that, for a few hours opened an 18 point gap at the top. Manchester City later restored that gap to 15 points with a 4-0 thrashing of Newcastle United.
For Sunderland, the loss led to the sacking of Martin O’Neill who in no time was replaced Sunday night with the appointment of charismatic, former West Ham United player and more recently former Swindon Town manager Paolo Di Canio, handed the task of keeping Sunderland in the top flight with eight matches to play.
The Italian manager, who only has Swindon on his managerial CV though did lead them to League One by winning League Two last season, quit the lower league club earlier last month in quite dramatic circumstances and one would expect some more of that to come up now at Sunderland… drama trailed Di Canio in his playing days and spectacularly so (apparently) in his first managerial job.
While awaiting that, Sharks of Port-Harcourt caused a bit of a stir when it unveiled now former manager of Sunshine Stars, Gbenga Ogunbote, as its Technical Adviser during the halftime break of its goalless draw with city rivals Dolphins in a Nigeria Professional Football League match.
First, the unveiling couldn’t have been done before or after the match? Compared however to the fact that Ogunbote will only sign an agreement on Tuesday (rather than a proper contract, long story), the unusual halftime unveiling takes a slightly more trivial position in the whole charade reminiscent of former TA Austin Eguavoen’s arrival at the club.
One also must question the motivation behind Ogunbote leaving a Sunshine team he led to the last four of last season’s CAF Champions League (albeit with fortune’s favour), a team that hasn’t lost its opening four league matches and lies in fifth place with a game in hand, for a club that currently is second from bottom following a woeful start to the campaign.
At the other, brighter, top end of the table, champions Kano Pillars remain in top spot after a 3-2 win at ABS in Ilorin; its second away win this season. Pillars now have 12 points from five matches, a point ahead of Rangers that needed two goals in the closing 10 minutes to get a 3-1 win at home to Kwara United.
Elsewhere, Shooting Stars raced to a three goal lead but in the end held on for a 3-2 win over Wikki Tourists and rise to third place on nine points, with Akwa United now fourth also on nine points courtesy of a 3-0 win over Bayelsa United.
Other results saw Warri Wolves claim a point in a goalless draw at Enyimba despite playing a better part of the last half hour there with 10 men, Heartland thrashed Gombe United 4-0 to rise into the top half of the league, as did Nembe City now in 10th place after a 2-1 win over bottom side El-Kanemi Warriors while the match between Sunshine Stars and Lobi Stars was postponed due to the latter’s continental engagement this week.
Going further north on the continent, the young Pharaohs of Egypt won the Africa Youth Championship in Algeria 5-4 on penalties, as the final match against Ghana on Saturday ended 1-1 after regular and extra time. Nigeria last Friday had finished third with a 2-1 win over Mali in the third place play-off.
Expectedly, the AYC’s Best 11 is dominated by Egypt that had five of their players named, including Saleh Gomaa who was also named Player of the Tournament. Abduljaleel Ajagun was the only Nigerian player on the list, strangely, as golden boot winner Aminu Umar; who finished with seven goals, was left out.
The Flying Eagles meanwhile will face Portugal, South Korea and Cuba in Group B of the World Youth Championship. Egypt find themselves in Group E with England, Chile and Iraq while Mali will face Mexico, Greece and Paraguay in Group D. Ghana on their part will come up against France, Spain and the United States in what potentially is the group of death at the WYC holding later this year in Turkey from June.
Well before then, Turkish giants Galatasaray visit Spanish giants Real Madrid in a first leg quarterfinal UEFA Champions League match on Wednesday night, with Madrid heading into that encounter on a bit of a low after only managing a 1-1 draw at Real Zaragoza in a Primera Liga match.
That result meant Jose Mourinho’s side remain 13 points off the pace in La Liga having failed to take advantage of Barcelona being held to a 2-2 draw at Celta Vigo, a match that saw Lionel Messi score his 43rd league goal and create a record of scoring in 19 consecutive league matches, as well as joining Cristiano Ronaldo as a player to have scored against every other team in that league. Those two are a pleasant scare with their footballing prowess.
Elsewhere in the major European leagues, Bayern Munich is now a match from claiming the Bundesliga title after spelling out the opponent’s name, with two to spare, in a scary and scarring 9-2 rout of S.V. Hamburg (okay, the nine letters are now accounted for).
Scarier was the fact that it was third choice striker Claudio Pizarro that led the massacre with four goals. And the message will surely have been crystal to Italian champions Juventus that visit the Allianz Arena on Tuesday night in another Champions League quarterfinal encounter.
Juve prepared for that with a 2-1 Derby d’Italia win at Inter Milan to remain nine points clear of second placed Napoli that won 5-3 in a thrilling match at Torino, and a further two points ahead of AC Milan that claimed a lone goal win at Chievo Verona.
As if that wasn’t an exciting enough match-up to look forward to, Ligue Un leaders Paris Saint Germain; with an extra day’s rest and home advantage, welcome Barcelona to the Parc Des Princes in Tuesday night’s other quarterfinal match-up.
Finally in Tennis, Andy Murray continued his ascendency by replacing Roger Federer as the world number two player after capturing the Sony Open title with a 2-6 6-4 7-6 win over David Ferrer. Ferrer himself rose to fourth on the rankings to replace Spanish compatriot Rafael Nadal who now occupies fifth place.
The new rankings suggest the coming French and Wimbledon Open will be one of the most competitive grand slams held in recent times, barring injuries, with the top five players heading to them in good form along with the likes of Juan Martin del Potro and Tomas Berdych. In the female section, Serena Williams claimed a sixth Miami title win courtesy of a straight sets defeat of Maria Sharapova.
With that, it’s a wrap here. There’s the FA Cup replay at Stamford Bridge tonight as well as a chance for QPR to come within five points of safety in the Premier League match at Fulham to look forward to.
Then Champions League quarterfinal matches on Tuesday and Wednesday followed quarterfinal matches in the Europa League on Thursday mean it’s an eventful start to the month of April and indeed the second quarter of 2013.
Have a great week ahead and hey, don’t get fooled out there.
Over the Weekend: League Titles Almost Won, Nadal’s Big Return and More
Posted by Emi Michael in My Word on... on March 18, 2013
We know about the Mayan calendar, there is the conventional calendar and there also is the woman’s infamous biological clock, now I am certain there should be a Latic calendar and a Sillywhites’ clock following the weekend’s round of Premier League matches.
Wigan usually get on an ascendency in the closing weeks of a league season and this season’s proving no different, beating Newcastle United 2-1 to make it four wins from its last five matches in all competitions in its quest to avoid relegation (yet again) and (refreshingly) win the FA Cup.
At White Hart Lane however, Tottenham Hotspur’s self-implode clock seems to have begun ticking after former striker Dimitar Berbatov scored the only goal in Fulham’s win there on Sunday. The loss is Spurs’ third successive defeat in a week following those at Liverpool the weekend before and at Inter Milan last Thursday.
And while the entire club would strongly disagree, three losses after a dozen matches unbeaten raises the eerie aura of a close season meltdown Spurs have always experienced following an amazing spell in every season since Martin Jol’s time as manager there. Funny, Jol is now Fulham manager.
The Lillywhites’ next four league matches will have them face Swansea, Everton, Manchester City and Chelsea, a run which has the two legs of their Europa League quarterfinal against FC Basel sandwiched.
The next month from this moment can’t be any more crucial and Andre Villas-Boas’ side will either stay true to their seasonal meltdown or break the cycle and at least finish in the top four and make next season’s Champions League.
A win meanwhile would have put Spurs within two points of second place, as Manchester City had lost 2-0 at Everton on Saturday. But now, Spurs have dropped to third on 54 points, with Chelsea now a point in third and four points off second spot after a 2-0 win over West Ham United.
In that match, Demba Ba was shockingly profligate in front of goal, wasting genuine chances for which Fernando Torres would have been crucified for had it been him missing them; not to say Torres would have scored if he was on the pitch.
Nikica Jelavic on the contrary fired home a late second to seal City’s fate at Goodison, while Robin van Persie’s drought continued though Manchester United opened a 15-point lead thanks to a lone Wayne Rooney goal win over relegation threatened Reading.
Van Persie remains three goals behind the league’s leading scorer Luis Suarez who also failed to score as Liverpool fell to a 3-1 defeat at Southampton, a loss that dropped the Reds to seventh with Merseyside rivals Everton replacing them in sixth place.
As a result, Suarez has 22 goals while van Persie has 19… yet a certain Lionel Messi has two more league goals than the Premier League duo, notching his 42nd and 43rd in this season’s La Liga in a 3-1 win over Rayo Vallecano on Sunday.
That win restored the Catalan side’s 13 point lead over second placed Real Madrid that twice came from behind to register a 5-2 win over Real Mallorca while Atletico Madrid stayed a further point adrift with a 2-0 win at Osasuna thanks to a Diego Costa brace.
In Italy, Juventus remained on course to retain the Scudetto title courtesy of a hard-fought 2-0 win at Bologna. Napoli kept the title race barely alive with a 3-2 win to remain nine points adrift while Mario Balotelli scored his sixth in six matches to help AC Milan to a 2-0 win and stay two points behind Napoli.
PSG on its part squandered a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at St. Etienne, yet made its advantage at the top of Ligue Un five points as second placed Oympique Lyon lost at Bastia. And Bayern Munich in Germany won 2-1 at Bayer Leverkusen though Borussia Dortmund kept the Bavarians’ lead at 20 points with a 5-1 win over Freiburg.
While European football leagues’ leaders largely have no credible challenge, the top players in Tennis look to have their work well cut out following a run of results that culminated in Rafael Nadal winning the Indian Wells tournament.
The Spanish former world number one came from a set down, the first set he’d lost all tournament, to defeat Juan Martin Del Potro 4-6 6-3 6-4. This is after beating Roger Federer in the quarterfinals before overcoming in-form Tomas Berdych in the semis.
With Del Potro himself beating Andy Murray in the last eight before edging past world number one Novak Djokovic in the semis; ending a run of 22 wins as a result, the level of competition on this season’s ATP tour looks much stiffer.
Same may also be said for the Formula 1 season which started off down under with Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen winning the Australian Grand Prix ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso while reigning champion Sebastien Vettel had to be content with third place after starting the race in pole.
Still too early to conclude how competitive the F1 season will be, unlike last season which saw the opening seven races won by different racers before Vettel sped away with the title.
In Africa, the preliminary stages of both continental club football competitions continued with Nigeria’s representatives ensuring they hold advantages going into their respective return matches in a fortnight.
League champions Kano Pillars recorded 4-1 win over AC Leopards and Rangers drew goalless at Vital’O in the Champions League while in the Confederations Cup, Lobi Stars won 3-1 at home to Muculmana while Heartland could only win 2-1 at home to US Bitam.
Finally… the U20 Africa Youth Championship kicked off in Algeria with Mali’s young Eagles exacting some revenge by beating Nigeria’s Flying Eagles by a lone goal in Group B. Hosts Algeria drew goalless in the opening match against Benin Republic while Ghana fell 2-1 to the young Pharaohs of Egypt.
Nigeria will next face Gabon on Wednesday before wrapping up its group matches against DR Congo on Saturday. Hopefully, the Flying Eagles will recover from the Mali defeat and make it out of the group stage to the semi-finals, which guarantees a spot in the World Championship.
With that, it’s a wrap. Osaze Odemwingie took to twitter yet again to vent his feelings about how he is being treated at the club and more, even though he tweeted he was not trying to force a move away from West Brom. Eitherway, he is set to get some disciplinary actions as the club has stated he will be dealt with “internally”.
Have a stress free week ahead.
Over the Weekend: League Begins in Nigeria, Wigan in Cup Hysteria and Much More
Posted by Emi Michael in My Word on..., Uncategorized on March 11, 2013
Formerly known as the Nigerian Premier League, the Nigerian Professional Football League, after many delays to its commencement, finally went underway for the ‘2012/13’ season over the weekend with a number of outstanding results.
Defending champions Kano Pillars picked up from where it finished last season off with a lone goal win away at Wikki Tourists of Bauchi. Now, considering the potential violence that can erupt over an away team’s ‘audacity’ to claim all three points in the league; whatever name it is referred to, Pillars’ bodes well for the league’s image on the larger picture.
Hence, the biggest and most unexpected result of the weekend came from Owerri where Federation Cup (Nigeria’s FA Cup) holders Heartland fell to a 2-1 defeat, at home, to Nembe City… a newly promoted side. While it doesn’t guarantee Nembe will pull a Swansea for the rest of the season, it is most refreshing such result can occur.
The season kicked off in Enugu on Saturday where Rangers edged rivals and last season’s runner-up Enyimba by a lone goal while a goalless draw was played out in Ilorin between city rivals ABS and Kwara United.
Shooting Stars of Ibadan claimed a 2-0 win over Gombe United, Dolphins of Port-Harcourt lost by a lone goal at Akwa United as did Lobi Stars and Kaduna United at Bayelsa United and Sunshine Stars respectively, while Sharks beat Warri Wolves 2-1 in Port-Harcourt.
It’s great to see the league kick off here after much bickering in the boardroom, bickering which has been the major bane of the league’s growth for years and a lasting absence of such can only have the league produce more Sunday Mbas for the national team as well as see the clubs perform creditably in continental competitions consistently.
Having satisfied the saying about charity’s roots, three goals in a four-minute spell midway through the first half saw to Everton’s shock exit from the English FA Cup at the hands of Wigan Athletic, leaving David Moyes still without a trophy in his entire career. Gooners, take note.
However, when Wigan’s knack for going on a hot streak of form with the season winding up is considered, the win at Everton becomes less of a shock but the scoreline remains so. Before the match, Moyes had stressed the importance of winning the Cup, a view mirrored by a number of his players and indeed they played well, it just wasn’t meant to be for Everton.
Elsewhere lower league outfits Millwall and Blackburn Rovers will meet again at Ewood Park after playing out a goalless draw on Sunday while Carlos Tevez was the driving force behind Manchester City’s 5-0 demolition of Barnsley, scoring a hattrick and getting an assist too.
The tie of the round came from Old Trafford with Chelsea coming from two goals down and earn a replay in a 2-2 draw. Thankfully, Howard Webb didn’t take the spotlight of a Manchester United match for once, but the managers did.
In an outgoing week the Red Devils had to deal with going out of Europe in ‘that’ manner along with speculation over Wayne Rooney’s future and his weight, Rafa Benitez piled a bit more (or has attempted to) for United to deal with after stating that Sir Alex Ferguson didn’t shake hands with him before the match.
Both managers, with a bad blood history from Benitez’s Liverpool days, didn’t share a handshake at full time either with Benitez saying he was “with my players celebrating”. And on the pre-match handshake snub, “I was waiting for him at the beginning, so you should ask him. I have education. I was ready.”
Rafa, funny man. Trying to ease the pressure on himself by taking on another manager when there’s a replay to prepare for may not be the best idea (his spat with Mourinho while at Inter Milan comes to mind) and now, I have a feeling it would be a painful end to the FA Cup for Chelsea come March 20.
The winner of that replay will face Manchester City in a ‘final before the final’ while Wigan’s four-minute win has been rewarded by a draw to face either Blackburn or Millwall in a match that will likely see its winner qualify for Europe regardless of the outcome in the final.
That is because their potential final opponents look odds on to clinch European spots in the Premier League and thus wouldn’t require the Europa League berth from winning the FA Cup, with Man. United favourites to win the league, Man. City some way off in second place but looking sure bets to qualify for next season’s Champions League and Chelsea chasing a top four finish to make the Champions League or at worst finish in fifth (or sixth) and reach the Europa League.
Chelsea’s, and Arsenal’s push for a top four finish was helped by Tottenham Hotspur’s 3-2 loss at Liverpool, a match that could have seen Spurs actually go within two points of second place and five points clear in third place had they won.
Gareth Bale didn’t score for the first time in seven matches, but he did provide the Spurs goals scored by Jan Vertonghen. However it was Luis Suarez that shone brighter, opening the scoring early on to take his league tally to 22 goals before winning a late penalty which Steven Gerard converted for the win.
Liverpool have now won three successive league matches as well as gained only a second win over a team in the top half of the league as the Reds push for a Europa League place.
The win got Liverpool to sixth on 45 points, two points behind Arsenal that however has a game in hand at home to out of form Everton that is in seventh place behind their Merseyside rivals on goal difference.
Other results from league matches played saw West Brom come from behind to beat Swansea 2-1 and replace their opponents in eighth place while the biggest results were QPR’s 3-1 win over Sunderland, which puts QPR just four points off safety, and Aston Villa’s 2-1 win at 19th placed Reading, getting Villa out of the relegation zone.
In Europe, PSG went five points clear in France with a comeback 2-1 win over Nancy coupled with a goalless draw between Olympique Lyon and Olympique Marseille in second and third respectively.
Juventus and AC Milan were the big winners in Italy, with Juve opening a nine point gap at the top courtesy of a lone goal win over Catania coupled with second placed Napoli’s lone goal loss at Chievo Verona.
Milan got a 2-0 win at Genoa on Friday and is now two points off second place and four points clear in third after Inter was beaten at home by struggling Bologna while Lazio also got beaten at home by Fiorentina, the latter rising two places to fourth as a result.
In Spain, Lionel Messi scored his 40th league goal and extended his run of scoring to 17 consecutive La Liga matches, as Barcelona beat Deportivo 2-0. Atletico’s lone goal loss ensured Barça is now 13 points clear at the top with Real Madrid now in second place thanks to a 2-1 win at Celta Vigo, with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring both goals for Real and becoming the first player ever to score 25+ goals in his first four seasons in Spain.
Both players stay setting records with reckless abandon and so is Bayern Munich, after twice coming from behind to claim a 3-2 win and go 20 points clear atop the Bundesliga. Second placed Borussia Dortmund lost 2-1 at Schalke in the Ruhr derby while third placed Bayer Leverkusen failed to take advantage as it lost by a lone goal at Mainz. If all goes well, Bayern will win the league over the next three matches, with six games to spare then.
The phenomenal Bavarians, in their treble quest, will now focus on making the last eight of the Champions League when Arsenal visit the Allianz Arena with Bayern holding a 3-1 lead from the first leg.
Barça on their part have a 2-0 deficit to overturn against AC Milan while Schalke will be spurred by its Ruhr derby win to go past visiting Galatasaray as the Royals, along with Bayern, look to join Dortmund and make it three German clubs in the last eight.
For long, the argument has been on what league between Spain’s and England’s is the best. Now it seems the Bundesliga has not only joined that race but is leading it.
That however is another day’s discussion, it’s a wrap for now on what was a most eventful weekend.
Do have a productive week ahead.
During the Week: FIFA’s a Messi, Michu Messes Chelsea & Sahin’s Forever a Loan
Posted by Emi Michael in My Word on..., Soccer/Football on January 12, 2013
For a fourth year running, the human incarnate of Zeus’ godfather Lionel El-Messius was honoured as the winner of the Ballon d’Or award for Player of the Year, much to everybody’s surprise *yawn* and not too few pundits’ dis(pleasure)/(gust).
Till he wins a World Cup or a Copa America at least, the latter set of football lovers/followers will not right away agree with those already resigned to referring to Messi as the GOAT over all others.
And indeed, 91 goals scored in a calendar year is no mean feat. Then again, all those goals managed to earn just a Copa Del Rey triumph while CR7, with his three scores and some of goals, won a league title; which is more prestigeous.
In the end however, both phenomenal, uber ultra-footballers each won a trophy with their respective clubs and if Ronaldo wanted a clear shot at the award, he should have done just a bit more than lead Portugal to a last four finish at the Euros.
Therefore, and bringing the matter to a closure (which will last till the next El-Clasico is played), congratulations to Messi for an unprecedented fourth Ballon d’Or triumph. Hope dinner later in the week with the Dolce & Gabbana designers went tastefully?
As for Ronaldo, being Messi’s escort at the awards has to be killing his nerves and white blood cells. Then Pep Guardiola had to rub it in and push the ignore button when CR7 came round to him? What’s “Aye ma ni’ka o…” in Spanish or Portuguese please?
FIFA
Not to be outshone by one person however, football’s world governing body, in all its exalted, overpampered bereaucratic and extravagantly nonplussed false sense of esteemed justification, named a World XI comprising players from two cities in one country.
So much for a ***WORLD*** team that it was devoid of talents such as Neymar who unfortunately lost with Brazil at the Olympic Games football final, Robin van Persie who scored many crucial and well executed goals for Arsenal and Manchester United and Andrea Pirlo who orchestrated an unbeaten title winning season for Juventus with sumptuous through passes and celestially graceful poise (yes, the tautology’s worth it).
Since we’re talking of a World XI, Chris Katongo could well have made that list having led Zambia to a historic, dramatic, memorable and highly emotional first African Cup of Nations triumph.
Yaya Toure could as well have made that list, leading Manchester City – along with Hart and the rest of the Kompany – to the English Premier League title and going so close with Cote D’Ivoire at the AFCON.
Manuel Neuer certainly deserved a spot too and Didier Drogba wouldn’t have been out of place though a host of strikers did much better than he did; he just happened to score crucial title winning goals.
In the end, squashing whatever faint hopes the likes of Edinson Cavani, Fernando Llorente, Mario Götze, Mario Gomez and Gianluigi Buffon among others may have had, five players each from Real Madrid and Barcelona were named in the World XI, with Radamel Falcao being (sort of) the exception… since he plays at Atletico Madrid. Ridiculous!
I’d put Falcao with van Persie upfront, dump CR7 and Messi in midfield either side of Pirlo and Yaya Toure with Kompany showing up at the back.
Would be quite a gesture to have Sergio Ramos earn a career ending red card by tackling FIFA, in its nonplussed entirety, the *censored* *censored* out of the beautiful game. Gosh!
Math Gone Wrong
Beauty at times can be a complication and football is a beautiful game, so beautiful that it makes values become distorted so that £2m becomes so much more valuable and benefitting than £50m ever could.
So was the tale of two Spaniards when Chelsea hosted Swansea in the first leg of a Capital One Cup semi-final match, with Miguel *can’t remember the rest of his native name but thankfully we all can simply call him… * Michu did damage as the Swans ran out 2-0 victors.
Fernando Torres on the contrary was, to be kind, lethargic and one knew from the 10 minutes Demba Ba got when he replaced El-Zero was the result would have been much more competitive.
And for Chelsea, Torres remains a loss they’ll have to live with as no club, logical and even most of the financially illogical ones, will bid even £13m (I reckon) for him and pay him an outrageous weekly wage. Not even on Football Manager.
At this rate, Michu would replace Torres in the Spanish national team and it has been widely reported the Armadas coach and winner of the Ballon d’Or coach of the year Vicente del Bosque will be at Goodison Park to watch the Spanish Swan come up against the Toffees.
So… that’s how Michu will get a cap with Spain ahead of Mikel Arteta… this is too emotional for me, let’s move on.
Transfers
Seems Arsenal got round to settling the contract issue with Theo Speedo, as well as Bacary Sagna so it’s looking like the Gunners won’t have to part with yet another key member of their team after the likes of Cesc Fabregas, van Persie, Samir Nasri and more.
Elsewhere in France’s Ligue Un, PSG’s Nene reportedly agreed terms with a Qatari club, ensuring one more payday for the 31 year old Brazilian who’s place has been taken by a younger Brazilian in Lucas Moura.
Moura made his debut last night as Ligue Un resumed from its winter break, but things didn’t go as planned with Les Parisiens managing a goalless draw at home to lowly Ajaccio, playing an entire half with 10 men after Thaigo Motta was sent off just before half time.
And another high profile transfer will see Wesley Sneijder earning well after Inter Milan shipped him off to Galatasaray for about £8.5m. Why Turkey for a player of Sneijder’s reportoire? Well it’s said that the income tax on players there is just 15%, compared to about 40% in most of the other top European leagues.
But if you asked Wesley himself why, be sure to get the ‘need to play regularly’ or ‘seeking a new challenge’ speech because ‘it is never about the money.
One player’s transfer that does seem not for the money is Nuri Sahin’s. It however is farcical how he has completed a circle back to Borussia Dortmund, the club he moved from to join Real Madrid which in turn loaned him to Liverpool only six months ago.
Dortmund is still a good team, perhaps even much better than when he left thanks to a host of players such as Götze, Robert Lewandowski, the exciting Marco Reus, Neven Subotic, Lukasz Piszcek (spell check) and Sven Bender.
Sahin, on a six month loan deal, should fit perfectly in to the current BVB set-up and even get right to the starting XI since Ivan Perisic has left the club. Hopefully, he’ll rediscover the form that made him one of Europe’s best passers of the ball.
And with that, it’s a wrap. It’s a week to the start of the African Cup of Nations, which promises to be exciting with the Ivorians ready to have another go at the trophy that keeps eluding them while Zambia won’t get the underdog treatment this time around.
Ghana comes into the tournament all pepped up, as always, while underdogs Nigeria will be out to make the last four a 14th time in their 17th appearance. And each time Nigeria makes the last four, they come away with at least the bronze medal.
Morocco and Algeria are other nations to look forward to though, without doubt, the footballers from the island of Cape Verde will get the most attention as they make their AFCON debut, even set to opening the tournament in a match against host South Africa.
Till then, there’s the rival’s match between Manchester United and Liverpool on Sunday, to be followed by Manchester City’s visit of the Emirates Stadium to play Arsenal.
Hopefully the weekend lives up to its billing. Have a pleasant one.
P.S: Got the Sahin bit in the headline from a tweeter (I think is) known as “TheNarcisist_”.
Over the Weekend: Dream Debuts, Big Italians Lose & Tito Wins One
Posted by Emi Michael in My Word on..., Soccer/Football on January 7, 2013
The FA Cup began proper in England as clubs from the Premier League joined in the third round action, while a couple of the major leagues returned from the mid-season break with Cavani, CR7 and El Messius still banging goals in and Tito Vilanova back in the Catalunya dugout as he recovers from cancer… and Casillas showing just why The One would rather not start him.
FA Cup
The oldest competition in football witnessed its third round over the weekend, traditionally the stage where the elite clubs – the Premier League clubs – begin their quest for the Cup.
But there’s a reason the FA Cup is so revered by all who play and who watch the competition, the giantkilling. And Brighton & Hove-Albion set the third round going with a well earned 2-0 humbling of what has lately been a rather appalling Newcastle United (one club from the elite, down! Next!)
Yes, yes, the pitch there wasn’t Ashburton Grove sleek or Old Trafford inspiring but the early kick-off on Saturday gave little indication that the Toons deserved to get even a replay from the encounter.
On the contrary, the Cup’s most illustrious clubs and landlords of the exemplary pitches in the previous paragraph, managed to trigger yet more twitter banter between both set of their loyalists along with nosy spectator fans of other clubs.
First, on Saturday, Manchester United took a Cleverley lead, then fell behind to DeJoe vu moments as Joe Cole (on his second West Ham debut) fed James Collins twice, only for Robin van Persie to come on, take down a long ball from Ryan Giggs under pressure and strike low (with his right foot) for a 90th minute equaliser.
With that goal, gooners yet again opened the book of Lamentations on the world though it sounded more like the Songs of Solomon to the red devils.
And on Sunday, Arsenal, typically, fell behind to a Miguel Michu strike, before well taken goals by iPod, who came on for the much loved Ramsey, and a well struck left foot venom by Kieran Gibbs off a sumptuous one-two put the Gunners ahead in the closing stages.
But that’s merely dramatic and Arsenal love the drama only when it’s extremely so hence, some very absurd defending allowed the Swans to get a late equaliser and earn a replay next week at the Emirates with Brighton & Hove-Albion awaiting the winner of that.
Elsewhere, Demba Ba settled in quite quickly to being number 29 at Chelsea, getting a brace on his debut as the Blues came from behind (sexual) to trounce Southampton 5-1 at St. Mary’s.
Then Daniel Sturridge, sold to Liverpool for 12 mlllion quid by Chelsea, got a goal as the Reds beat Mansfield 2-1. He lived up to expectation of course, failing to convert when one-on-one with the opposition keeper.
Why Liverpool got Studge for a dozen million quid when it would’ve cost a bit less to get Ba… well, it’s done. Liverpool have done better in these sort of matters ala Henderson and Downing.
The club did spend good money on Luis Suarez, a very talented player that. Problem is, the Uruguayan always has controversy trailing him and this weekend was no exception as he clearly controlled the ball with his hand just before scoring Liverpool’s second.
La Liga
Lionel Messi scored his 27th league goal of the season.. pause… I’ll take that again. After 18 matches played, Zeus’ godfather incarnate Lionel Messi scored his 27th league goal as Barcelona eased to a 4-0 win over neighbours RCD Espanyol.
More embarrassingly for the neighbours, all four goals were scored in the first half while Pedro was denied a hattrick by an offside flag. Neighbours, the closest Espanyol will get to being at Barcelona’s level.
That said, Barça now holds an 11-point lead over Atletico Madrid after the latter was held to a 1-1 draw at Real Mallorca. Real Madrd meanwhile remains ♫super sweet 16♫ points adrift of their arch-rivals after coming out of an eventful seven-goal encounter victorious.
Iker Casillas again started from the bench and after Karim Benzema had put Real ahead in the second minute with a goal that continues to render Gonzalo Higuain surplus to requirement, Real keeper Adan was sent off for conceding a penalty in the sixth minute.
On came Casillas but Prieto levelled for Sociedad. No problem there, goalkeepers hate facing penalties. But Casillas twice lapsed in concentration and you have to ask, is the man still motivated to be Real and Spain’s number one? Reina, De Gea and Valdes keenly watch on.
Real at the other end spared Casillas blushes and, thanks to a Cristiano Ronaldo brace, claimed a fortuitous 4-3 win over Sociedad that later had a man sent off themselves.
In the end, what matters is the count in the 2013 golden boot, they-score-when-they-want race. Radamel Falcao isn’t off the mark yet, CR7 has two and Messi has one no thanks to Pedro’s stray foot and the crossbar.
Robin van Persie though has three goals so far and was joined by the very fit Edinson Cavani who got a hattrick as Napoli bullied AS Roma to a 4-1 defeat.
Serie A
Cavani now has 16 league goals and a total of 99 goals in his Serie A career, helping Napoli rise to third on a weekend that saw Juventus, Fiorentina and Inter Milan fall.
Juventus’ lead had been cut to five points by Lazio in a 2-1 win over Cagliari in Saturday, but the Old Lady certainly was still on her mid-season break as 10-man Sampdoria came from behind – after being reduced to 10 men – to claim a 2-1 win at Turin’s Stadio Olimpico.
Antonio di Natalie meanwhile orchestrated Inter Milan’s 3-0 loss at Udinese while Fiorentina fell 2-0 at home to lowly Pescara but remain ahead of Inter on goal difference, with both still nine points behind leaders Juventus.
It’s a Wrap
Here’s wishing Tito Vilanova a recovery as smooth sailing as his club’s La Liga form. Barcelona, after 18 matches, have won 17 and drawn one and look very well on course to break the records Real set in winning the title last season.
Finally, I don’t think I’ve ever run a series of posts to schedule over a stretch of time on here so “Over the Weekend” and possibly “During the (Mid)Week” will help this cobweb clogged blog clear up.
Have a productive week then.
My Top This and That of 2012
Posted by Emi Michael in My Word on... on December 15, 2012
It’s been a tasking year actually, one which went by with me still not knowing how to drive a vehicle, still unable to be seen as the sane person I really am and yet to make headway on the path to marriage as verily pointed out to me lately by equally unmarried friends.
It almost happened, the third bit. But like I said, almost. All is well, hence I’d randomly take a look at other things that I enjoyed this year. Starting with:
Songs
Omo Pastor – Ajebutter 22
Too many witty lines on this one. ♫ And I’m N-T-A mo kan speak out. ♫ ” and ♫ You bring fire to my wood, o fe da’nà. ♫ are just a couple. And the beat!
Power Circle – MMG ft. Gunplay & Kendrick Lamar
The best thing about this song, even though he may have done a tidy verse, is that Rick Ross didn’t do more than he did on the song. I zone when Meek Mill’s verse comes on (dunno why) but overall, this was my morning devotion for the third quarter of the year.
Clique – Kanye West ft. Big Sean & Jay-Z
*bumps head to the beat while going ♫ Clique… Clique… Clique… Clique… Clique. ♫*
Shake It Out – Florence + The Machine
earpiece eargasms.
Braveheart – Lupe Fiasco
One of my favourite rappers on the beat of one of my favourite producers (the Runners). Odd combination on paper to me, but the track turned out a very good one.
Rich Forever – Rick Ross ft. John Legend
That part when the main beat comes on… better than whatever high alomo can get you to.
Higher – Big Sean ft. Mae, Pusha T & The Dream
The Dream murdered the hook. Pretty much why I put this song here.
Ihe Neme – 2 Face
A simply happy song. And funny part is, I still don’t have the song. Only just hear it often on others’ phones.
Breath of Life – Florence + The Machine
This song, is the highlight of watching Snow White and the toned down Thor. Powerful rendition to end a (stale) story we grew up hearing/reading/watching.
Tonight [Best You Ever Had] – John Legend ft. Ludacris
Song had a brother doing false-ettos in Lagos and Ilorin bath tubs. Not a jergens behaviour. 😦
2 Mussh – Reminisce
Beats so Legendury. Cheeky lyrics from Reminisce, lyrics toh ta ta! The remix too isn’t half bad.
Asylum – Slaughterhouse ft. Eminem
What I liked most about the song, the beat, verses… whole feel of the song went with the title, and it’s groovy (for someone who mostly hears rap music I guess). Basically what they did on the album, a good album.
Club Rock – Durella
♫ sweet sixteen wan-na have a good time… ♫ on a cool, lowkey beat. Tugbaski!
Others
Lines – Big Boi ft. A$AP Rocky & Phantogram
Goodbye – Slaughterhouse
Hard White [remix] – Yelawolf ft. T.I. & Slaughterhouse
Black Boy Fly – Kendrick Lamar
Come to Me – Sarkodie ft. D’banj
Oliver Twist – D’banj
Tony Montana – Naeto C
Leave Level – Owen Gee ft. M.I., eLDee, Waje, Isolate…
Sherane – Kendrick Lamar
And a special mention to Olamide for numerous, humorous songs he churned this year. Certainly my act of the year.
Go and find songs by Ms. Chief too. She try well-well!
Ah, sorry if you were expecting download links o. I mean… “say no to piracy” please.
Top Movies Seen This Year
Doesn’t have to be a movie released this year, in case you missed the “seen” above. And if you follow me on twitter, you would know that…
The Dark Knight
… was seen by me time and again, I didn’t need to have my eyes on the (laptop or phone’s) screen after a certain time of watching the movie. Yet, I’ll always get pumped up when the scene that culminates in Batman upending that long truck begins.
Great script, great delivery. Some say the theme’s too dark… well, what were you expecting? The train station Potter went when he ‘died’? Move.
The Dark Knight Rises
Bane turned out to be a puppet. And “His only crime… was that he loved me”, f*** outta here with that zoning Miss Tate! “Goodbye my friend… ” *smh*. A notch lower than The Dark Knight but goodness, the mere fact Hans Zimmer did the score makes TDKR 2012’s undisputed movie. *mutes every contrary opinion*.
P.S.: Christopher Nolan sha got a relative to play a waka pass role in the film. Well done.
The Avengers
Nothing more to say. Too bad it came out same year the Dark Knight rose. Still no explaining how Thor got to Earth from Asgard.
The Expendables 2
Doing a second part was pushing it by Stallone, but he pulled it off with the classic gong-hu flick… honouring us with the presence of Chuck Norris while at it. He better just enjoy the money hammered from the two films and not do a third. Aseju ni won n pe ‘yen.
3 Idiots
Funny, thoughtful. Probably the only Indian/Hindi movie I’ve seen and took serious.
Prometheus
The idea of the film is captivating, more so the fact that she went ahead to their home world rather than return to earth. Uber busy body behaviour though!
Project X
Too dope! If it happens in Nigeria, I suggest a house along Bourdillon. “And this, is.. Project X… yo!”
Inception
Yep, another 2010 movie. One my brother dismissed with a whiff back when it was released. Naïve. Do you still remember from how many levels Di Caprio’s character came up from after finding Saito?
Salt
Heartless wife.
Chronicles of Riddick
Yes, another one from archives but one worthy to be redone “in 3D”.
Argo
Only read the synopsis and loved it. ( ._.)
Skyfall
A gay ex-agent being the pain in MI6’s asses. Such a twisted masterpiece.
Top Daydreams (Clean Version)
Driving to school in a particular person’s turbo engine ‘muscle’.
Paying for a certain hostel in Ilorin, and demolishing the whole structure. Then building something much better there.
Finally finishing a novel, which may well be deleted altogether. Writing can be a piss off profession at times. But then…
Being paid £400 per week as a writer for a publication online. Not sure why it’s never more than that figure since we’re talking daydreams here.
Reporting the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games live from Brazil, not once getting distracted.
Buying a controlling stake of Horlicks from Glaxo Smithkline. The world domination afterwards ehn… *makes mental note to daydream of that*.
Living happily and comfortably somewhere in Estonia.
A number of his friends getting appointed into a Federal Government’s cabinet, at least three of them. But not in this Jonathan administration of death!
Watching an Arsenal match live in the Emirates Stadium. Never did the bit of the match itself, can’t be going through same heart-racing bull crap experienced watching Arsenal in reality. Arsenal’s sanity’s much worse than mine.
Debuting for Kwara United at 27 and winning the league and CAF Champions League in the second season. Then becoming their all time leading goal scorer, winning the Nations Cup with Nigeria soon after and finishing third at a World Cup. How he had this daydream, when he’s not played a proper football match in years let alone a monkey-post ‘set’… is better left to me.
Acquiring three high performance laptops, each one with at least 8GB of RAM (one possibly clocking 16GB), and using them same time for work, pleasure and browsing the internet. Yes, he really is socially dead!
Meeting one alter-ego in a person. That ego, hopefully, won’t be me.
Top Daydreams (R-21 Version)
Two swords drawn, fighting what aren’t demons but certainly not angels in a Church… while Mass is being celebrated. The Mass goes on while he fights them because the congregation can’t see them fight while the officiating Priest pretends not to. I’m not sure but, the fight may have been over the Communion, a special kind of communion. I’d rather not delve further, yet.
Setting two, largest size Ghana Must Go bags full of one thousand naira notes on fire… :s
Selling souls for a living. (stopped work on it. Maybe will do next year).
Hearing a conference of religious clerics, christian and muslim, ask Him on judgement day, “Are you Christian or Muslim?” only for another section of clerics to ask “Are you male or female?”. Then I imagined hearing ‘Is that why we’re here’ in reply to… uhmm… I should stop now.
Hunting down all those who posted a “list” in that week list-blogging was the trend on twitter. That would be my list.
Top Lines of the Year
“hayteen an’ ah-bove… sheybi eez legah…” – D’banj in Sarkodie’s “Come to Me”.
“as enemies envy the green my n****s lawn mow.” – Wale in MMG’s “Power Circle”.
“Been around the world, twice to be exact.” – J. Cole in DJ Khaled’s “They Ready”.
“Bands emeka dance.” – Nigerians singing Juicy J’s song.
“Halle-Berry. Halle-lujah.” – Kendrick Lamar on A$AP Rocky’s “F**kin’ Problems”
“So I log on… to her internet. On a four-gee… wireless!” – D’banj on K-Switch’s “Sister Caro”.
“o ta! ta!” – Reminisce on “2 Mussh”.
“Ohh I’m in trouble… ” – Parker’s girl in Amazing Spiderman
“DESHI! DESHI! Basara Basara!” – The Dark Knight Rises
“I’ve a plan… ATTACK!” – Iron Man in “Marvel’s: The Avenger’s”
“There’s a midget in the oven!” – Cobb’s Jewish pal in “Project X”.
“You plebeian” – -___-
Top Goals
I wish I could talk about goals scored this year but I didn’t watch a lot of matches to be talking about this. But of course, Zlatan’s fourth in Sweden’s 4-2 over England remains a stinking goal.
And off the top of my head, the other top goals of 2012 I can think of include:
Robin van Persie’s goal at the Emirates against Everton, before the madness that saw him end up in the devil’s lair happened, is another.
Karim Benzema’s sweet volley from a very tight angle for Real Madrid last season. Can’t remember against what team but I do know that goal had similarly only been scored by Marco van Basten.
Papiss Cisse’s freak (second) goal at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea.
Not sure if this was in 2012, but I remember one of Demba Ba’s goals in Newcastle United’s 3-1 win at Swansea City, where he looped a curling effort over Michel Vorm. The technique oozing off that goal, midas stuff!
Sergio Agüero’s title clincher. Nothing special about how the goal was scored, just the massive impact it had.
Peter Crouch’s volley in Stoke City’s 1-1 draw at home to Manchester City.
Can’t think of any more but I’m sure CR7, Lionel Messi, Neymar and Radamel Falcao scored some cool ones too.
With those, how about wrapping this post up with my top FM12 matches. You see the joy in this game is, you can save an entire match and watch (the key highlights or the entire match) later.
So some of the matches I saved are:
Arsenal 5-1 Manchester United
Unlike daddy Wenger, I didn’t ever sell Robin van Persie and in this match he got two goals and provided one of the goals in Aleksandr Kerzhakov’s hattrick.
All five goals were scored in the first 35 minutes (swerve) while Kyle Bartley got a straight red in the 38th. Still, those chumps could only get a goal back? Abeg WengerOut!! A hundred and forty thousand pounds sterling every week for the love of Bergkamp!
Arsenal 3-1 Real Madrid
This was the second leg semi final of the Champions Cup. After a goalless first half, Douglas Costa opened the scoring for Arsenal with one helluva volley before van Persie extended the lead on the hour mark.
Then Karim Benzema got a goal back for Madrid with two minutes to play. Another goal for them and they’d have gone through on away goals but my young prodigee Olivier Markoutz got the third in stoppage time.
Arsenal 3-2 Manchester City
Can’t remember if it was the League Cup or FA Cup final but in it, Arsenal came from two goals down to win 3-2 after extra time. Van Persie got two goals and Douglas Costa scored a sweet free kick in extra time.
England 13-0 Liechenstein
Mo spell won ni oruko mehn, tun fun manéja ni jara. No mercy.
Great Britain 4-3 Brazil
Humbly took the job as Great Britain’s manager to the Olympics and won all matches with relative ease till Brazil came along.
Having beat Spain in the semis, Brazil – complete with Neymar, Hulk, Pato, Sandro, my Douglas Costa and Ganso and others – led 2-0 by half time against my Team GB.
Then we got a penalty, and no thanks to forgetting to set my peference for penalty takers… Andy ponytail Caroll stepped up instead of Rooney. A “fuck my life!” moment, which last a few seconds only thankfully. Dude scored another goal sef. Miraculous.
Arsenal 4-2 Sillywhites
Having lost every match played against Tottenham (home and away) consecutively for two and half seasons, we met in the FA Cup final. Twice came from behind to end 90 minutes at 2-2 before Gervinho scored twice in extra time, with his glorified forehead (as both came from Arteta cornerkicks), to end the embarrassing run.
Arsenal 3-1 AS Roma
So happened after my first season, I finished sixth in the league and got knocked out of the UCL first round. Europa League jam me mehn and you must know, that Cup goes hard.
The minnows in it, migraine inducing inglorious basterds! Huffed and puffed to the last 16 and met Roma. Having scored a late second goal in the 4-2 first leg loss, Roma took the lead with a penalty right on the 45th minute from a non-existent foul… meaning Arsenal needed three goals to qualify.
60 minutes, 1-1 from the penalty spot. 75 minutes, 2-1. 90 minutes, still 2-1… OmO! Five minutes into stoppage time, still 2-1 and Ganso goes off injured. All hope lost, Wilshere throws a cross in with 97 minutes on the clock. Ball hits a Roma defender and rolls into the bottom corner.
Hysteria from me, from what the rest of the world refer to as just a simulation game. Dead people.
They: “No wonder Leke is how he is. How will he be close to ‘finding love’ when he’s analysing football manager like this? Reckless behaviour.”
Me: “By all means, please blame Ramsey!”
Top Shit to Look Forward To in 2013
Samsung’s Galaxy SIV
Still rumoured successor of the hugely successful SIII. Word is, the SIV’s processors will be ‘hexa-core’… power guzzling, smart ass monster… and that the screen will be “unbreakable” since it’d be made with plastic. Hopefully that won’t affect the display’s quality.
Eminem
Royce has said he’s in the studio, as has 50 Cent. And seeing as Yelawolf and Slaughterhouse have put out albums in 2012, his (executive) production responsibilities in 2013 (at the moment) seem light so he should have enough time to put out material.
Cruel Winter
Following the Kokomaster’s well documented feature in this year’s Cruel Summer album, Kanye should be G.O.O.D. enough to get our bros to do more hooks at least on a Cruel Winter album.
Another Mayan Calendar Concept
It’s never ending with us really, and I don’t mean life as we know it but speculations, rumours, did-you-hear talks and whatever else you may refer it as will remain with us.
Where would the fun be otherwise.
Detox
( ¬_¬)
Arsenal
I’d rather not elaborate. All I’ll say is, FM is not involved. 😐
Josep Guardiola
His sabbatical will be up at the end of this season and I wouldn’t mind if PSG got him. To be frank, Old Trafford seems a sure bet as his destination. Time will tell.
Finally Getting Disvirgined
^_^
FM14
😐
An Album from Timberlake
Otherwise… blame Jessica Biel!
CR7 Scoring 90+ Goals
If Messi can achieve what he has this year, Ororo can next year. He’s scored some 60 goals this year anyway, so a hundred in 2013… eez nuffin!
Graduation
We’re all looking forward to it here SO BAD, it’s almost on a self-destructive level. God keep us level headed as we get closer Lingua lords and ladies. Amen.
But if it does happen on the 21st… oh well, I lived.
Punkenstein's Blog 