Posts Tagged ‘Barcelona’

News in brief

TUES September 13 (AM): Champions Leagues, Gyan gone, EPL looking at NFL

The CONCACAF Champions League group stage continues tonight, but not before UEFA’s Champions League begins the same stage.

In the local version the Los Angeles Galaxy are in Morelia to take on Monarcas. The fans there know and love Galaxy star Landon Donovan. And by know and love I mean absolutely hate his guts. Nevertheless, Donovan says he takes it all in stride and won’t be too impacted by the crowd as he seeks to lead his club to a dominant lead atop Group A.

The Group B leaders, the Colorado Rapids, welcome a Bob Bradley-less Santos. Permanent coach or not, Santos and the Rapids are the best two teams in the group and Gary Smith will put out a strong 11 in hopes of getting a nice cushion.

Across the Atlantic, Arsene Wenger has expressed concern that his club is falling behind other big name teams, namely Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona, because of a lack of finances. Things have been grim for Wenger lately, and might continue to go south with his team taking on Dortmund later today.

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News in brief

MON May 26 (AM): Warner’s Tsunami, Barca Booty Shake, Inter Win Coppa Italia

FIFA vice president Jack Warner promised a tsunami when he hit Zurich, and by the looks of it he’s going to deliver.

The FIFA Ethics Committee decided to provisionally ban Warner and Mohammed Bin Hammam (as well as the Caribbean Football Union’s Debbie Minguell and Jason Sylvester), but completely cleared Sepp Blatter of any wrongdoing.

Never one to utilize understatement, Warner told Sky Sports News: “I must say that I look on the suspension as the worst form of justice by any sporting organisation.” (more…)

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News in brief

WEDS Apr. 20 (PM): Copa del Rey, CD9, and Arsenal Fail

It took 120 minutes for el Classico to decide the Cope del Rey, but in the end it was Real Madrid that was able to beat Barcelona 1-0. In the 103 minute Angel Di Maria was able to set up Cristano Ronaldo, who headed the ball into the back of the net. Also, for the first time in 17 years Real Madrid was able to Copa del Rey, and now the pressure will be on Barcelona to beat Real Madrid in Champions League. Barcelona may already have La Liga already won, but swings the momentum in favor of Real Madrid. (more…)

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News in brief

TUES April 5 (PM): Champions League, Najar and MLS

Schalke stunned defending champions Inter Milan 5-2 while Real Madrid thrashed Tottenham 4-0 in the first set of Champions League quarterfinal matches today. Inter Milan struck first with a Diego Stankovic volley just 25 seconds into the game, but the German side pulled away in the second half, scoring three unanswered goals. Meanwhile, Real Madrid completely dominated Tottenham, sliding four goals past them, including two from Emmanuel Adebayor.

In more Champions League action, Manchester United and Chelsea face off tomorrow in a rematch of the 2008 final while Barcelona are heavily favored against Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk. Phil McNulty weighs in on whether Drogba or Torres should feature against the Red Devils.

Andy Najar ended months of speculation today by announcing his commitment to Honduras. Najar, the 2010 MLS Rookie of the Year has lived in the United States for the past four years, raising U.S. hopes that he might wait for U.S. citizenship.

With the recent addition of Dwayne De Rosario, the New York Red Bull are the best team on paper in the MLS, while the only thing that can stop Real Salt Lake this season is complacency.

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News in brief

WED Mar. 9 (AM): Champions League, Rankings, Holden, and MLS

Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger and midfielder Samir Nasri have both been charged by UEFA following comments made during a heated exchange with Massimo Busacca following Barcelona’s 3-1 Champions League victory. The debate stems from the decision to show Robin van Persie a second yellow for shooting on goal just one second after Busacca whistled for offsides and amid the roars of 95,000 spectators at the Camp Nou.

Xavi, however, supported Busacca and has openly questioned Arsenal’s tactics, which failed to muster a single shot on goal. Javier Mascherano also voiced his opinion.

FIFA’s latest rankings are out, with the top three unchanged. Argentina has moved ahead of Brazil for fourth in the monthly rankings, and the US dropped on place to 19th, eight spots ahead of rival Mexico.

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News in brief

TUES March 8 (PM): Champions League, Gold Cup, Suarez and Sporting Kansas City

Barcelona and Shakhtar Donetsk are the first two teams to book their tickets to the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals. Barcelona earned a 3-1 home win, which saw them through 4-3 on aggregate, while Shakhtar Donetsk dominated Roma 3-0 to give the Ukraine club a 6-2 aggregate win.

Lionel Messi struck just before halftime for Barca, only to be drawn level with the Gunners after halftime, thanks to an own goal by Sergio Busquets. But Barca began applying tremendous pressure on the Arsenal defense, and goals from Xavi and Messi put the game away for good. In the other game of the day, Shakhtar scored early and never looked back, securing a 3-0 win. (more…)

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News in brief

MON Mar 7 (AM): Adu, Champions League, EPL, Guzan

Americans in the Turkish leagues had successful weekends, as both Jozy Altidore and Freddy Adu contributed to their clubs’ efforts by notching an assist and a goal, respectively. Adu’s strike pulled Rizespor into second place in the Turkish second division. Adu’s beautiful curling effort after a great first touch to find space can be found here.

Ahead of the highly anticipated second-leg between Arsenal and Barcelona at the Camp Nou (Tues. 2:45 PM ET), Arsenal have received word that Cesc Fabregas has a 90% chance to be fit for the match. Additionally, Robin van Persie is back in training for the Gunners and will travel to Barcelona, although the surprising early return does not necessarily mean the striker will be available for the Champions League match. Alex Song, according to Wenger, is definitely out.

In the Barca camp, Javier Mascherano believes Leo Messi is capable of anything, and could one-up his performance last year against the Gunners and score five. However, Barca – who will be missing Gerard Pique due to yellow card accumulation – have received the troubling news that Carlos Puyol will miss the second leg as well.
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News in brief

TUES Feb. 22 (PM): Champions League, Xavi, Roma and CONCACAF Champions LeagueUES

Chelsea beat FC Copenhagen of Denmark 2-0 in UEFA Champions League play, while Real Madrid and Lyon played to a 1-1 draw. Nicholas Anelka had a brace for the Blues, while Karim Benzema and Bafetimbi Gomis struck for Real Madrid and Lyon, respectively. In English Premier League action, Blackpool earned a surprising 3-1 win over Fulham, raising them to 5 points clear of the drop zone.

CSKA Moscow secured their place in the last 16 of the UEFA EUROPA League with a 1-1 draw with PAOK Salonika.

Barcelona superstar Xavi will be out 7-10 days with a calf strain. That means he’ll miss this weekend’s La Liga game against Mallorca, and possibly Monday’s matchup at Valencia. Barca coach Pep Guardiola will also be without Carlos Puyol, keeper Victor Valdes and Dani Alves. (more…)

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United States

THURS Feb. 17 (AM): Europa League, Arsenal, Roberto Carlos, Dempsey and Gattuso

Dutch outfit Twente have already defeated Rubin Kazan 2-0 in their Europa League clash, with several more games to follow this afternoon.

The FA is worried that Great Britain will have to pull out of the Olympics, according to an ESPNSoccernet report. Several clubs don’t want their players playing in both Euro 2012 and the Olympics in the same year, and so Great Britain stands to lose many of its stars.

After yesterday’s stunner in North London, Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere is confident the Gunners can finish off Barcelona when they travel to the Nou Camp in three weeks. Arsene Wenger believes Barca is still very much alive, but that his squad has what it takes to finish the upset. (more…)

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News in brief

WED Feb. 16 (PM): Barcelona Lose, Roma too, Johnson, Dynamo, and Ronaldo

It is possible Barcelona can be beaten after losing to Arsenal earlier today 2-1. The English squad had to come from behind with two late goals from Robin Van Persie and Andrei Arshavin to defeat the Spanish giants.

Victor Valdes will be very disappointed that he did not cover the near post on the first goal, as he let Van Persie finish from a difficut angle. The second goal was beautiful counter attacking football from Arsenal with Samir Nasir setting up Arshavin for the match winner.

Roma and Shakhtar played a very high scoring back and forth affar that ended with the Ukrainian side winning 3-2. Roma took the early 1-0 lead, but Shakhtar responded with three goals in 15 from Jadson, Douglas Costa, and Luiz Adriano. In the second half Jeremy Menez scored a stunning goal, but it was not enough and Shakhtar will have the advantage going into the second leg. (more…)

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