New Season, First El Classico

And here we go! A new football season and right away we have one of the biggest rivalry if not the biggest, The El Classico. Real Madrid will be playing the first leg of the Super Cup against Barcelona at Camp Nou.

If history tells us anything, we know this will be a fight till the end. Real Madrid will be leaving out Pepe due to injury, Kaka, Sahin and Carvalho. Although not confirmed, but Higuain is likely to start due to his performance against Valencia. Real Madrid is pretty much coming out with the same lineup as last year except for albiol starting in place of injured Pepe but Barca's lineup will be slightly different. With the addition of Alba at left back, Pedro most likely starting up front, Puyol and Mascherano starting as center backs. Alex song could also get his first start today after completing his move from the Gunners.


Game time: 4:30ET
Venue: Camp Nou

UEFA Champions League matchups for the week

The champions league tournament yet produces another round of fantastic match ups and i almost can't wait to watch these match ups especially the AC Milan Barcelona match.Although Barcelona is highly favored going into this game but i am just a closet Milan fan and i truly believe that Milan can beat Barcelona. 

Tuesday March 27 2012

Real Madrid @ Apoel

I fully expect Madrid to dominate this match up. I dont see how Apoel can pull this off at all so, come next year Apoel :)

Chelsea @ Benfica 

This is going to be interesting because this is the only thing Chelsea is playing for and the last hope for EPL in this tournament. I really dont know how chelsea is going to pull this off unless Drogba starts up top. What do you think?

Weds March 28 2012

Barcelona @ Milan

This is going to be this rounds best match up. I see Barcelona having more possesion in this game but Milan has a chance if the back four can be solid for 90mins which is not very easy playing against Barcelona.

Bayern Munich @ Marseille

This is also going to be a good game but i expect Bayern to win this. Bayern is at their best right now and that is why i think they are favored going into this match up. With the combination of Ribery and Robben in the middle, i see them causing havoc. 

Who do you think will win these match ups?

HALA MADRID!!!

If there is any doubt that Real Madrid has money to spend, think again. Real Madrid are in the process of building a billion dollar resort island that will have 10,000 seat stadium, five star hotel, beach-side bungalows and  an amusement park. This resort will have the worlds first stadium opened out to sea. The resort will be about 45minutes away from Dubai airport. Real Madrids president Florentino Perez said "Real Madrid Resort Island will be a major tourist and sporting center of great dimensions and the highest level. This extraordinary complex will attract millions of people looking for quality leisure services." 


Any other club do it big like Real Madrid? 

Messi! Messi! Messi! Messi! Messi!

     So Bayern Leverkusen travelled to Estadio Camp Nou to play Barcelona with the hopes of pulling off a win to qualify for the next round of the champions league but instead got MESSIED!. For those of you that don’t know what the word “MESSIED” means, it is when one player (Lionel Messi) scores 5 goals (the most by any player in champion’s league history). Messi already had a hat trick 50 minutes into the game. Now I don’t know what Leverkusen’s game plan was, if they had any but I’m pretty sure with 77% of the possession going to Barca, it is hard to carry out any type of game plan except for mass defending. Now I really don’t want to go on and on about what Bayern Leverkusen didn’t do or what Barcelona did but instead, I want to focus on what the little Argentine wizard did.

   Going into this game, Lionel Messi needed 12 goals to be barca’s highest goal scorer in history of the club but not only did he get 5 goals closer to breaking this record, he also became the only player in CL history to score 5 goals in a single game.  So my question is this, how is it possible for one player to be so dominant for his club but not for the national side? Also I know everybody pretty much agrees that messi is the wizard of all wizards, so who right now in football is the closest to Messi skill wise?   

NFF, the most corrupt agency in Nigeria!

Nigerian Football Federation has been labeled the country’s most corrupt agency according to the senate. I am pretty sure nobody is surprised about that; at least I know I’m not. It is also not a surprise that the politics in Nigerian football is also the reason why the Super Eagles are nowhere to be found in any major tournament. Apparently the Nigerian Football Federation made about $8 million for their participation in the South Africa World cup and another $5.5 million for the junior world cup but no one can account for the money or its whereabouts. We blame players for not performing to par but shouldn’t we be pointing the blame towards the people running the agency? Some people think that football in Nigeria should be disband to allow reconstruction but it’s one thing fixing the monetary issues, and it’s another thing if the players can hold themselves to a certain standard and actually do their part in getting football back to where it used to be in this country. How do we go about rebuilding football in Nigeria or Africa for that matter? How do we go about fixing the bad name NFF has given to football in Nigeria?

Wenger's Confrontation!

So after the second leg of the match between Arsenal  and  Ac Milan, Arsenal ‘s boss apparently had some few words to share with the Slovenian referee Damir Skomina in the tunnel. Wenger felt like he didn’t agree with the fouls called against his team and he had an issue with Milan’s sportsmanship on the pitch.He said that the Milan players were going to the ground for every contact and the referee did not do anything about it.  He also complained about the field condition at San Siro during the first leg of the match between the two teams. Wenger will face actions by UEFA for the confrontation.

Does Arsene Wenger have a point here? Does this take away from the gunners amazing performance?

Close, yet far for the Gunners!

My! Oh my! Close yet so far for the Gunners. First, let me say there is nothing better that CL futbol. Now with that being said, I will be the first to say GREAT EFFORT by this unpredictable Arsenal squad. They came out with so much energy and jumped up right from the start. Players made good runs up and down the pitch but what I don’t understand is this, What in the world were the Millan players doing the first 55 minutes of this game? I felt like AC Millan assumed they absolutely already had this game in the bag and refuse to apply pressure in the middle or at all for that matter.  So why can’t the Gunners play like this every game? What mistakes did Millan make in this game? 

SIDE NOTE: Young OX for mayor of London! :)
FACT: Millan has never won in London. So far, 4 draws and 2 defeat

Match Stats

Arsenal

AC Milan

9(7)	Shots (on Goal)	13(5)
21	Fouls	8
5	Corner Kicks	1
4	Offsides	9
45%	Time of Possession	55%
3	Yellow Cards	3
0	Red Cards	0
5	Saves	4