Coming off impressive attacking displays against Scotland and Brazil, a disappointing USA side drew 0-0 with Canada at BMO Field on Sunday. And if it wasn’t for Tim Howard in the U.S. goal, Canada could easily have picked up their first victory against the U.S. since 1985.
Against Scotland and Brazil, Jurgen Klinsmann had played a 4-3-3 formation that had created a lot of offensive pressure in the two games.
Those two games had been at home, and maybe because the Canada game was in Toronto, Klinsmann switched to a 4-4-2 formation, and the Americans struggled to get anything going offensively, despite having Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey start together for the first time in the Klinsmann era. Read more... (708 words, 1 image, estimated 2:50 mins reading time)
Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis is due to meet with around 300 Arsenal Supporters’ Trust (AST) members at Emirates Stadium this week and it looks like from the questions submitted by AST members, that Gazidis will be on the hot seat.
According to the AST web site, Arsenal and Gazidis have agreed to cover the following topics: Read more... (371 words, 1 image, estimated 1:29 mins reading time)
- The club’s footballing expectations for this coming season, 2012/2013, and whether qualifying for the Champions League is the extent of the club’s ambitions
- The new Elite Player Performance Plans being introduced and what this will mean for youth development at Arsenal
Two first half goals from Giovani Dos Santos and Javier Hernandez were enough to see Mexico stun Brazil 2-0 in front of almost 85,000 fans in Dallas today.
Dos Santos opened the scoring in the 21st minute when he picked up a pass from Pablo Barrera, beat Brazilian defender Danilo and cleverly lobbed his shot over Santos goalkeeper Rafael.
The Tottenham Hotspur forward then turned provider for Mexico’s second goal, taking advantage of a defensive mistake before being fouled by Juan inside the box. Hernandez made no mistake from the resulting spot-kick with a powerful right-footed finish. Read more... (334 words, 1 image, estimated 1:20 mins reading time)
Argentina, Chile and Venezuela were all big winners after the fifth round of matches in the South American qualifying competition for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil.
Argentina thrashed Ecuador 4-0 in Buenos Aires by turning in their best first half of football since Alejandro Sabella took over as coach. Argentina finished the game off with a three first-half goals in 11 minutes from Sergio Aguero, Gonzalo Higuain and Lionel Messi. Does any county have a better attacking trio than Argentina? Angel Di Maria’s fine second-half strike set the seal on a dominant performance. Read more... (373 words, 1 image, estimated 1:30 mins reading time)
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Argentina Dominant While Uruguay Draw In World Cup Qualifying
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England‘s preparations for the upcoming European Championship have been dealt another blow as Chelsea‘s Gary Cahill will miss the tournament after breaking his jaw against Belgium on Saturday.
Last week it was Cahill’s Chelsea team-mate Frank Lampard who was forced to withdraw from the England squad due to injury. Then England boss Roy Hodgson turned to Liverpool‘s Jordan Henderson instead of Manchester United‘s Michael Carrick to replace Lampard. Henderson really struggled in his first season at Anfield while Carrick was one of Man United‘s best players the second half of the season. Read more... (398 words, 1 image, estimated 1:36 mins reading time)
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Hodgson Snubs Another Man United Player As England Injuries Mount
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England won for the second straight time under Roy Hodgson on Saturday, while European Championship co-host Poland and the Netherlands both enjoyed easy victories. The same could not be said for Italy, who lost for the third consecutive game as the Italian match fixing scandal continues to engulf the team’s Euro preparations.
At Wembley, Danny Welbeck scored his first international goal in the 36th minute to give England a 1-0 victory over Belgium. The win, and clean sheet gives England a perfect record since Roy Hodgson became coach, but the win was costly as Chelsea defender Gary Cahill broke his jaw in two places and will miss the Euros. Read more... (313 words, 1 image, estimated 1:15 mins reading time)
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England And Poland Win Tuneups While Italy Loses Again
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Benny Feilhaber and Kelyn Rowe each scored one goal and assisted on the other as the New England Revolution claimed a 2-0 win over the Chicago Fire on Saturday night at rain-soaked Gillette Stadium.
Revolution goalkeeper Matt Reis made three saves to guide New England to its second shutout of the season. The victory was the Revolution’s first regular-season triumph over the Fire since May 6, 2007, snapping a 10-game winless run (0-7-3) in the series. Read more... (608 words, 1 image, estimated 2:26 mins reading time)
Paul Lambert has become Aston Villa‘s fourth manager in two years after walking out on Norwich City.
A Villa club statement read simply:
“The Board of Aston Villa are delighted to confirm that Paul Lambert has been appointed Villa manager.”
Norwich prohibited Lambert from talking to Villa earlier this week and refused his resignation in light of not being allowed to discuss a move to Villa.
It appears, though, that a compromise has been reached (ie Villa way pay compensation for Lambert) and Lambert will take charge of a side that finished perilously close to the relegation zone, in 16th place, last season. Read more... (285 words, 1 image, estimated 1:08 mins reading time)
This is not ranked by likeliness to win the actual tournament, but rather the general strength and “star power” of the squads.
1. Spain
The winner of the 2010 World Cup and 2008 European Championships, Spain has embarked on a four-year run that has cemented La Furia Roja as one of the greatest international teams of all time. The overwhelming majority of the core of those two title-winning squads will be starting in this summer’s top eleven, with only David Villa and Carles Puyol out due to injuries. In qualifying, Spain won all eight games it played in: a perfect record. The only fear with this year’s edition of España is potential complacency and fatigue; many of the Spanish players have had physically grueling schedules between European play and Copa del Rey action. Still, the Spaniards remain heavy favorites to win it all once again. Read more... (1762 words, 1 image, estimated 7:03 mins reading time)
In indication of how much the latest match fixing and gambling scandals are impacted his team preparations for the Euros, Italian national boss Cesare Prandelli says that the Azzurri would quit Euro 2012 if they were asked to do so for the good of the game,
“If they tell us that it is in the best interest of football for Italy to not go to the European Championship then that won’t be a problem,” Prandelli told Rai Sport.
“It would not be a problem for me. There are things which I deem to be more important. Read more... (342 words, 1 image, estimated 1:22 mins reading time)
Coming off impressive attacking displays against Scotland and Brazil, a disappointing USA side drew 0-0 with Canada at BMO Field on Sunday. And if it wasn’t for Tim Howard in the U.S. goal, Canada could easily have picked up their first victory against the U.S. since 1985.
