Match Centre

By Darshan Joshi, writing in Sydney

It may be stretching the truth a little had I begun this by saying that there was only one team on the field, but it wouldn’t be a lie either. There was one moment during the match when it seemed as though Liverpool weren’t in grotesquely severe control of the match – Dimitar Berbatov lashed a half-volley, so curvaceous it may have made this month’s Playboy centrefold, beyond Pepe Reina, but, alas! All it did was shake the frame of the Spaniard’s goalmouth. And then there was a silence. Liverpool’s defensive third remained untouched for a long, long period, like a virgin resolutely set on prolonging its spell of abstinence. The picture is painted clearer than a van Gogh masterpiece when you notice the possession statistics: the Devils with 58% of the ball, yet, this very ball remained in United’s half for the majority of the match. And when United did get their goal, oh, if only there wasn’t a period of ninety minutes before then!

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By Tom Flatt, follow on Twitter @zolasbackheeel

Chelsea came from a goal down to defeat Manchester United 2-1 at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday evening, with a first goal from David Luiz cancelling out Wayne Rooney’s opener, and Frank Lampard netting the winner from the penalty spot with ten minutes to go.

Watching the game at the local pub, I was one of only two Chelsea fans present. Was I in Manchester? No, of course not, I was in Essex, severely outnumbered by United fans. A packed pub, with beers swilling and arguments and debate aplenty, never makes the ideal environment for concentrating fully on the game in hand (new blog idea: see how many beers I can drink before my writing becomes incomprehensible – so far so good).

These kind of matches have in recent years become clichés for over-hyped affairs, with both teams careful and hesitant, often not living up to expectation. This was a notable exception. It was end-to-end for 90 minutes. Although United had the better opening, Chelsea looked much more energetic and enthusiastic than in recent matches. With Ancelotti fielding a 4-4-2 formation, United’s 3 in midfield dominated proceedings, before Rooney finished expertly from outside the box in the 30^th minute. Van der Sar saved miraculously Ivanovic’s close-range shot-come-rebound from Lampard’s freekick, but little else troubled the Dutchman in the first half.

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By Tom Flatt, follow him on Twitter @ZolasBackHeeel

Chelsea are 15 points behind Manchester Utd with under a third of the season left to play. Alex Ferguson has risked getting blue egg all over his face this week by claiming Chelsea are out of the title race, and to all but the most optimistic (stupid) Chelsea fans, they are. But, at the risk of sounding deluded, there is still a slight, far-away, barely visible glimmer of hope for the Londoners.  

We have been inundated in recent days and weeks with inspirational messages from the likes of Frank Lampard and John Terry, the latter claiming: “It is a must-win game [against United] for us and the fans are going to be up for it. If we can win, who knows, it could put a little bit of pressure on them and the teams around us.”  This is reminiscent of the words of some of the Bayern Munich players and staff this week, who boasted their chances of catching Borussia Dortmund in the title race, only to refute that belief after succumbing to a 3-1 defeat, backtracking somewhat afterwards, saying they had really given up hope weeks ago.

Likely lineups:

Chelsea: Cech; Ivanovic, Luiz, Terry, Cole; Ramires, Essien, Lampard; Anelka, Torres, Malouda

Man Utd: Van Der Sar; O’Shea, Vidic, Smalling, Evra; Carrick, Fletcher, Scoles; Rooney, Berbatov, Nani

With tomorrow’s match the first meeting in the Premier League this season between the two, that is already 6 points to play for. Oh, and Chelsea have a game in hand. That’s already 9 points closer to United, narrowing the gap to four! Oops, I’ve lost track of my optimism. Impartiality is difficult to maintain when stakes are so high. It’s win or bust for Chelsea, after all.

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By Ulysse Pasquier, writing from Montreal

There will be much more than just golden statuettes distributed on Sunday as Arsenal will look to end their 6 year trophy drought against Birmingham in the Carling Cup final. Arsenal’s lack of silverware since 2005 has been a talking point in the press - for what seems like forever for us Gooners - and yet it will be Alex McLeish who will have the task of ending the longest winless run with Birmingham lifting their only major trophy back in 1963. Puts things in perpective doesn’t it? However Arsene Wenger has evidently felt under pressure this season breaking off with his nonchalant attitude toward the League Cup and lining up stronger sides. The Gunners will be eager to silence the critics but will first have to get past a strong Birmingham side and do so without the injured Theo Walcott and Cesc Fabregas. 

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By Gordon Fleetwood writing from NYC

South American U20 Championships: Day 15

Lucas, the talented midfielder from São Paulo, had been overshadowed by Neymar in this tournament. Not in terms of performances, but there is little hope of the quiet playmaker standing out beside the mowhawk sporting rockstar-esque striker. However, the most important game of the tournament, it was Lucas, not Neymar, who took the spotlight. His stellar performance was the centerpiece of Brazil’s annihilation of Uruguay. With the win, Brazil vaulted over the Uruguayans into first place. The trophy was theirs for the third time in a row. 

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By Tom Flatt, writing from Chelmsford, England. Tom is a new recruit for AFR and will be focussing his work on Chelsea. He can also be found on twitter under the name:@ZolasBackHeeel

Petr Čech was the hero of Craven Cottage, for Chelsea fans at least, rescuing a point after saving an injury time penalty. Clint Dempsey won and took the spot kick after being clumsily fouled by Chelsea’s new boy David Luiz, who otherwise impressed in his first start for the club. The 0-0 result has tarnished Chelsea’s title campaign as they now sit in 5th place trailing Manchester United by 12 points.

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By Gordon Fleetwood writing from NYC

South American U20 Championships: Day 14

The year was 1928, and Uruguay’s football team had made it to the Olympic games for the second time in a row. They went to Amsterdam to defend the title they had won so convincingly four years earlier. With the nucleus of that triumphant squad in tact, Uruguay were a good bet to retain their title, and so they did. It was a duplicate of their performance in 1924, as La Celeste swept aside all comers, only encountering resistance in the final against Argentina. It took two games, but the Olympic trophy was draped in sky blue once again. The win put another exclamation mark on what was a golden era for Uruguayan football, where they were arguably the best team on the planet. As a result of the 1928 Olympic victory, Uruguay was given the privilege of hosting the first World Cup in 1930. The World Cup trophy went to the men in sky blue, but the Olympic trophy, the instigator that catapulted their meteoric rise, was never to be theirs again. Uruguay did not qualify for another Olympic tournament after 1928.

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By Ainsley Jacobs, London

Liverpool would have stepped out onto the Stamford Bridge pitch with something to prove today. A point or two to prove to against the doubters who expected their recent winning streak to come to an end but also a point to prove to a certain former striker who decided to swap Merseyside for London. As Chelsea fans unveiled their El Nino banners which incidentally looked remarkably like the old Liverpool ones, the men in red were out to prove that there is life after Torres and on the evidence of this performance, their once Spanish matador will be quickly forgotten.

In a bold move, Carlo Ancelotti decided to employ all three of his strikers from the start, with Anelka playing behind the front two meaning Florent Malouda missed out. In contrast, Liverpool continued with the three centre backs that served them well against Stoke with Jamie Carragher returning from injury to replace Kyrgiakos. This system allowed both Kelly and Johnson to play to their strengths by getting forward and giving Liverpool much needed width with only three in midfield and Kuyt playing as a lone striker.

After a cagey opening it was Chelsea who had the first opportunity when Rodriguez inexplicably passed the ball to Torres. Chelsea supporters held their breath, only for the Spaniard to balloon his effort over the bar. Liverpool then began to take control of the game with a passing fluidity that has marked their recent performance under Dalglish. They managed to survive a major scare midway through the first half when Drogba’s throughball let Torres through on goal only for the excellent Jamie Carragher to block his effort. However, Bosingwa’s increasing forward forays were leaving Chelsea exposed on the left hand side and Liverpool began to exploit this more and more as the half went on. After good work from Johnson and Gerrard on the left, the Liverpool captain’s ball across the box evaded the Chelsea back line, falling to Rodriguez only for the Argentine to miraculously hit the crossbar from five yards out. Liverpool fans must have been wondering whether they would pay for that miss yet their organised team play and tireless work rate meant Chelsea found it increasingly difficult to break them down. Torres was beginning to show the same poor body language that he displayed at Liverpool but that was in no small part to a resolute defensive display from the reds not afraid to show a bit of brute force when necessary with an Agger forearm to Torres’s throat, much to the delight of the travelling reds supporters.

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By Gordon Fleetwood writing from NYC

South American U20 Championships: Day 13

Juan Manuel Iturbe may not be a household name, but with his talent, you wouldn’t bet against it happening in the future. The former Paraguayan youth international left his mark on the most anticipated game of the tournament. Brazil versus Argentina, the clash of two football giants that generates a storm at any age level. A fiery game, full of passion and intensity was settled by the 17 year-old Iturbe. It was the winding run and cool finish from the kid labeled the Paraguayan Messi that sealed a 2-1 win for La Albiceleste against ten man Brazil. 

The match had hardly begun when Brazil were on the backfoot. They lost both starting centerbacks within the first ten minutes. First Bruno Uvini picked up an injury and had to be substituted. Then Juan’s elbow on Funes Mori in the box earned the Brazilian a straight red card. Funes Mori dispatched the resulting penalty himself. Brazil were now a goal down, and had the better part of eighty-two minutes to play on ten men. Coach Ney Franco immediately sacrificed Oscar for a defender to reorganize the defense.

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      By Oliver Sparrow, writing from London

What a fantastic game of football - I think I’ve just about managed to recover my breath. The beautiful game doesn’t get much better than this. I can’t recall having watched a better match than this in any league, cup competition or major final.

In a way, this was a match that very much suited the English football fan’s mentality. Arsenal are the ‘baddies’ – if you will. They’ve got the players and the skill to play Newcastle off the park. Placing the starting line-ups side by side only serves to juxtapose the gulf in quality between the two squads. On the other hand we have Newcastle – the ‘goodies’. They might not have the same silky refinement and glorious guile that their Southern opponents possess, but they’ve got strength, passion and an impenetrable Northern resilience. You can’t teach character; that needs to come from the heart. Newcastle are the very epitome of the English underdog. This was David versus Goliath.

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By Leoul Yiheyis, writing from the States

Two-time FIFA World Player of the Year, and World Cup winner Ronaldinho has parted ways with Italian megaclub AC Milan, and joined popular Brazilian side Flamengo. The maestro was greeted by a stampede of 20,000 crazy fans who tore down the stadium’s gates to greet their new midfield maestro. Since his move to Milan, Ronaldinho has drawn much skepticism, from his late night clubbing to his seemingly effortless displays on the pitch. However, on the 2nd of February, all tuned in to his debut to see if he still had the spark of that God-given talent left in him.

Within two days of tickets being put on the market, not one was left as everyone in Rio couldn’t wait to see their new man in action. Flamengo was playing Nova Iguaçu in the Rio State Championship. It was party atmosphere in the Joao Havelange Olympic stadium, and Ronnie masks were passed out to the supporters as they danced around wearing his trademark smile. Upon the players release from the tunnel, the crowd made a mosaic that read “Biem-vindo R10”, Welcome R10.

Though it was earlier announced that Ronaldinho would most likely make a substitute appearance, as he wasn’t in the best physical form just yet, to the joy of the fans, he was put in the starting line-up (and surprisingly played a full 90 minutes). Prior to kick-off, Flamengo’s former captain, Leonardo Moura, handed the captains armband to Ronaldinho, marking him the new skipper.

As the match began everyone could see Ronnie was in the mood to impress; he was in the heart of key movements from midfield, and he was played in his favorite position, left attacking-midfielder. After releasing teammate Deivid with a simply-Ronnie back-heel, Abreu wasted the opportunity with a shanked left-footed shot. Ronnie then tried to take matters into his own hands with a brilliant free-kick, but Diogo tipped it over the bar. At the end of a pretty wasteful first half, Ronnie’s men went in 0-0 with the newly promoted side.

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