Crushing Defeats Yesterday

The Champion's League quarter-finals started yesterday with two big matches.

In a league where the top team and the sixth team are separated only by three points late in the season, two of those top six teams started the first leg of their cup tie. Yesterday's game took place in Lyon to visiting Bordeaux. Bordeaux, French Ligue 1's top team, came in having not won a match in over two weeks against a tough Lyon team. Lisandro Lopez started things off and put Lyon ahead for all of four minutes when Marouane Chamakh saw a header in to tie the game. But Lyon would not be silenced as Michel Bastos ripped a shot into the net in the 32nd minute. After that Lyon managed one more goal in when Lisandro Lopez converted a penalty spot. This gives Lyon a 3-1 aggregate lead going into next weeks second leg. What could be even more important is the effect it will have on Bordeaux in league play, knowing that a team chasing them in the standings just defeated them by two goals.

Yesterday's other game was, to me, the most enjoyable and suspenseful match aside from Bayern's second leg match with Fiorentina. I have to be honest, I missed the first part of this match, meaning I missed Wayne Ronney's goal in the second minute of the game. When I turned it on I thought it was going to be a repeat of the last match between Manchester United and AC Milan. I was quite pleased to see it was quite the opposite. After an absolute defensive lapse that allowed Rooney to score, the Munich defense began to get their act together leading up to half time. And after the second kick-off, it was all Bayern. They passed around United for a lot of the game, controlling the possession 60%-40% throughout the entirety of the game.

A mistake from Gary Neville in the 76th minute afforded Ribery a free-kick opportunity. He took full advantage as he took a right footed shot, which looked on target, that was deflected into the goal by none other than Wayne Rooney. The goal was no fault of Rooney's, or van der Sar's for that matter, as it just took a wild deflection. From that moment on, the Munich attack pushed the ball constantly against the United back four. With two minutes of stoppage time awarded, Bayern seemed destined for a draw. Into the second minute of stoppage time, Jorg Butt, Bayern's goalkeeper, stepped up to take a goal kick, stopped, stepped back, heard the crowd booing and urging him to hurry, raised his hand in consolation, and kicked the ball deep into the United defending third. The ball ended up at the right edge of the box, where a Bayern attacker collided with a United defender and raised his hand for a foul. Meanwhile, the three defenders looked on as Ivica Olic, Munich's workhorse, ran in from the right wing to steal the ball and put it past Edwin van der Sar.

This puts Bayern up 2-1 on aggregate going into next weeks match away at Old Trafford. This tie is far from over, and Munich need to come out trying to score in next weeks game. If they concede a goal without scoring, they will be knocked out of the competition on away goals.

Today, the tournament continues with the other two quarter-final match ups. Defending champions, Barcelona, will be taking on Arsenal in a rematch of the 2006 final. In the other match, you'll see surprising Russian side, CSKA Moscow, battling against Jose Murinho's Inter Milan team who are coming off a sound defeat of Chelsea in the last round. Both games begin at 2:45pm EST, and will be aired on Fox Soccer Channel and Fox Soccer Plus.

Destination: Indianapolis

The tables are set, and people will be excited to see basketball played in Indianapolis for the first time in a while. Butler continues its Cinderella run into their hometown to play against a Michigan State team who has made an unprovable run to the Final Four without their star point guard Kalin Lucas. The winner of this match up will be set up to face the victor between Mike Krzyzewski's Blue Devils and Bob Huggins' Mountaineers.

The games both take place on Saturday, starting with Butler and Michigan State at 6:07 and West Virginia and Duke at 8:47.

I'll be back throughout the week to break the games down.

Poor Refereeing

In a six days time, I believe I saw some of the best refereeing and worst refereeing I have ever seen in the UFC. Last Sunday, during their event on Versus, I saw great decisions, namely by Josh Rosenthal in the fight between Sakara and Irvin. He recognized that Irvin holding his eye was from a punch and not an eyepoke.

On the contrary, last night I witnessed some terrible decisions, mainly by the Dan Miragliotta, or "Smasher" as a few of you might know him as. He really let the crowd get to him while he was officiating. Anytime a fight was being contested on the ground and the crowd grew restless, and began to boo, he jumped in and stood the guys up. He also did that during a clinch with Mir and Carwin.

In that same fight, he also put Frank Mir's health in major jeopardy, for what reason I don't know why. Shane Carwin was on top of him, raining down leather, and Mir was obviously out. He let Mir take a least four or five unwarranted blows to the head before stepping in. Not just anyone landing four or five blows, maybe the heaviest hands in mixed martial arts.

I think that, due to the fact that referees are chosen by each state's commission, an rule I like, the UFC should think long and hard before going back to New Jersey.

Sixteen Was Sweet, but Eight Will Be Great!

The Sweet Sixteen concluded moments ago with the Duke Blue Devils polishing off a victory after a severely rough start against Purdue. Their saving grace was the fact that Purdue played just as poorly for twenty-five minutes of the game. Jon Scheyer took a half, but returned to form, and all but put away the Boilermakers in the closing minutes. Another Cinderella story was ruined by perennial tournament warriors Michigan State. Tom Izzo rallied his troops in the absence of their star and made due, beating the Panthers from Cedar Falls, Iowa.

In the two earlier games Tennessee rallied late to topple Evan Turner and the Ohio State Buckeyes. Great defense and a determined inside presence from Wayne Chism inspired the Volunteers to a victory. In the most one-sided affair in the Sweet Sixteen, Baylor dropped St. Mary's and sent the Gaels packing with a twenty-three point victory.

Tomorrow marks the start of the Elite Eight and will grant the first two spots in this year's Final Four. The games start when Butler tips off against Kansas State at 4:30 EST. The Bulldogs will be looking to send themselves home to Indianapolis with a chance to win the national championship. There are two big road blocks standing in their way by the names of Jacob Pullen and Denis Clemente. Matt Howard has to stay out of foul trouble, while their defense tries to maintain the two stars for the Wildcats.

Kentucky tips after the conclusion of the first game. They'll be taking on the Mountaineers of West Virginia. Bob Huggins' team proved in their hard fought victory over the Huskies, that they are capable of winning big games without their starting point guard. They battled through turnovers and played great defense to send them into this match up with Kentucky. If the Wildcats can't stay out of a scoring slump against this great defensive team in West Virginia, Butler, Ebanks and Jones will make them pay. On the other side of the coin, if the Mountaineers turn the ball over as much as they did against Washington, they can expect the likes of Wall, Cousins, Bledsoe and Patterson to capitalize in transition. This is going to be a very interesting game to watch.

Sunday afternoon concludes the quarter-final round the four victors from tonight's games collide. The first game, which tips at 2:20 EST, is between Tennessee and Tom Izzo's Michigan State Spartans. We will get to see if the Spartans can continue to rally without Kalin Lucas. They're going to have to worry about maintaining Wayne Chism and Brian Williams down low. They will also have to defend the perimeter well to stop emerging star J.P. Prince. Lucious kept control of the ball well in their win over Northern Iowa and will have to continue to do so to give his Spartans a chance to win.

The final spot in the semi-finals will be granted to either Duke or Baylor. This will be a battle of stars. Will Jon Scheyer be able to keep that second half form from the Purdue game? Will Ekpe Udoh catch his stride against a foul prone front line in Duke? Will LaceDarius Dunn finally slow down? If Duke can continue to keep their whole team involved while playing the defense they've been showing throughout the tournament, they'll have a good shot at beating the Bears. If Baylor can frustrate Scheyer and attack Duke's front line with Udoh, they'll be able to get plenty of chances from the charity stripe. Look for a very close game.

The destination for these eight teams will be Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.

If the Crowd Was Any Indication...

Professional soccer fans are finally starting to show their support for American teams. In a week where we almost saw a work stoppage, that would have surely killed the league for a season, if not longer, Major League Soccer came to labor agreements and kicked off the 2010 campaign.

The opening match saw the expansion Union from Philadelphia travel to the Pacific Northwest to take on last year's newcomers, Seattle Sounders F.C. I tuned into this game during some of the downtime and commercials in the basketball games. I must say, I have never seen a stadium that electric for a professional soccer game in the United States. The crowd, even in a constant downpour of rain, was roaring with chants of "SEATTLE!...SOUNDERS!," singing team songs, and even chanting "FREDDIE!...LJUNGBERG!" for their beloved Swedish star. Seattle beat Philadelphia 2-0, and the crowd cheered like they would after a touchdown in the NFL.

Seattle seems to have a great fan-base already, after just one year in MLS, which bodes well for forthcoming franchises in the Pacific Northwest. This year also marks the opening of a new soccer-exclusive stadium in New Jersey, Red Bull Arena. It officially opens for the season on Saturday when the New York Red Bulls take on the Chicago Fire. The place will be jumping with excitement, especially if last Saturday's sold-out exhibition match with Santos was any indication.

As the MLS continues to add teams in big markets and in turn, markets itself better, we're starting to see a major growth in the sport in America. As I reviewed in an earlier post, both Portland and Vancouver will most likely be granted expansion into the league in 2011. In a sport that many said would never find its place in the States, it is slowly but surely snowballing into a major professional sport.

Great Start to the Sweet Sixteen

The games just concluded in epic fashion. We saw a weird set of results tonight. The first game ended in an upset when Butler upended Syracuse. Then we saw West Virginia muscle through a tough game against Washington which saw both teams turn the ball over more than twenty times. Cornell started the game off against Kentucky with a bang, but failed to score a point in the final fifteen minutes of the first half. They battled back but couldn't seem to bring it within more than six or eight. The game of the night, and perhaps the tournament, went to Xavier and Kansas State. A back and forth affair that ended in double overtime when Xavier failed to answer the call of Jacob Pullen, who hit two huge threes in the closing minutes to close it out.

Tomorrow night starts off when Tennessee takes on Evan Turner and the Ohio State Buckeyes. Tennessee's main priority will be on defense, guarding the likes of Turner, Lighty and Diebler. Prince will have to continue his good play as well as senior big man Wayne Chism. If Evan Turner struggles in spurts, as he has in the first two games during this year's tournament, look for a very well coached Tennessee team to take advantage.

St. Mary's and Baylor tip off shortly after. Baylor, like Tennessee, will have one man in mind on the defensive end, Omar Samhan. This will be a tall task that has yet to be completed by either Richmond or Villanova. He's such an active player on the boards as well as the low post on offense. If they can limit his touches they'll have a great chance to win. On the other side, Baylor will have to entrust LaceDarius Dunn and Ekpe Udoh with carrying them through this tough game.

The late pair of games starts with Northern Iowa taking on a Kalin Lucas-less Michigan State team. Michigan State's second round win was bittersweet to say the least, as they lost their junior point guard and leader in Lucas. While Michigan State is coming in on somewhat of a down note, the Northern Iowa Panthers are flying high behind their senior guard Ali Farokhmanesh. Knowing they don't have Lucas, Izzo will have to stress the importance of playing smart and not surrendering silly turnovers. If Korie Lucious tries to do too much in Lucas' absence, the Spartans will pay in transition.

Last, and yet again, not least, is the number one seeded Duke Blue Devils taking on a surprising Purdue team. The Boilermakers have ridden their defense into the Sweet Sixteen, and have had to do so without their star big man Robbie Hummel. Duke are looking to make it to the Elite Eight and have been getting contributions from their whole team so far, including great performances from Singler, Smith, and Zoubek. If Jon Scheyer can find his stride and the other three see little drop off in productivity, the Blue Devils should be on their way. But with a defensive powerhouse such as Purdue, they have their work cut out for them.

If Thursday's set of games didn't wet your appetite, then maybe college basketball isn't the sport you need to be watching. This tournament has been great and filled with far more drama than last year's. The best part is, it just keeps getting better.

If College Basketball Isn't Your Thing

The MLS season kicks off tonight. The league has grown this year, adding one new team, the Philadelphia Union. They will kick off the 2010 season against last year's expansion team Seattle Sounders FC. The game kicks off at 9:30 EST and can be seen on ESPN.

The season was almost halted by a work stoppage earlier this week. The problems were resolved and the season will start as normal. This marks the sixth season in a row that the MLS has added an expansion team. There are also bids to expand next season adding two teams, Vancouver and Portland.

What I'm Looking for Tomorrow

Tomorrow, well I guess later today, marks the reset of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, and most importantly the implied sense of "madness" that we've all grown accustom to.

The night tips off when the Bulldogs of Butler take on Jim Boeheim's Syracuse Orange. The thing I look for in the match up is how effective the zone defense of Syracuse is going to be in defending against both Gordon Hayward and Matt Howard down in the post. We saw that Syracuse's zone is susceptible to a low post presence during the Gonzaga game. Also how will the Bulldogs defend against the likes of Andy Rautins and Wesley Johnson? Can't wait to see.

The next game of the night is a match up between Washington, who I find to be the most surprising story this tournament, and Big East tournament champions West Virginia. To me this game really comes down to whether or not Washington can defend Ebanks or Butler, and on the flip-side, whether or not West Virginia can limit Quincy Pondexter's touches.

Jordan Crawford looks to continue his impressive steamroll through the tournament in our next game, when his Xavier Musketeers take on Kansas State. This has all the makings of a real shootout. Look for a battle between two huge scoring threats in Crawford and Pullen, and which one will carry his team on his back to a victory. I'm thinking fireworks are going to go off in this game, don't blink.

Last but certainly not least it's the twelve seeded Cornell Big Red continuing their impressive quest for that proverbial glass slipper. They're running into perhaps the most talent laden team in the entire country in Kentucky. Cornell really impressed with that huge victory over Wisconson, who many considered one of the top teams in the Big Ten this season. Their victory was impressive, but they're going to play a team that can run with them for forty minutes and score in bunches. Look for a track meet, and just like the Xavier and Kansas State game, I'd refrain from blinking.

Did They Choose the Right Venue?

According to a report by ESPN Soccernet today, 650,000 tickets remain unsold for this year's World Cup in South Africa.

"The heavy costs of flights and accomodation, security fears and the logistical problems of getting around a vast country with a limited infrastructure with competing teams not based in individual cities have been used as reasons for the mass stay-away." - ESPN Soccernet Staff

It was a big concern of mine when I first heard that South Africa was going to get the World Cup in 2010. It is among one of the most dangerous countries in the world, with Johannesburg continually ranking as one of the top ten most dangerous cities in the world. The country also isn't among the most advanced in the world, teetering on third world status.

This now begs the question of the recent choices for World Cup 2014 and the 2016 Summer Olympics host, Brazil. The Olympics will take place more specifically in Rio de Janeiro, one of THE most dangerous cities in all of the world. Will the same security fears and underdevelopment in Brazil produce the same effect we're starting to see with the 2010 World Cup? We'll just have to wait and see.

More Like it

Seems like this time last year, the Sweet Sixteen went almost as planned, with the only one team higher than a five seed, Arizona, making it. This year the "madness" really is really being emphasized. Three double digit seeds are into the Sweet Sixteen, along with a 9 seed knocking off the number one overall seeds.

True Cinderellas seem to be emerging with the likes of St. Mary's, Northern Iowa and Cornell advancing. This makes for a very interesting second weekend.

Tables Set for the Quarter Finals

After Wednesday's games between Barcelona and Stuttgart, and Olympiacos and Bordeaux, the quarter finals of the Champion's League were set.

The draw resulted in the following ties:

Lyon vs. Bordeaux - March 30, and April 7
Bayern Munich vs. Manchester United - March 30, and April 7
Arsenal vs. Barcelona - March 31, and April 6
Inter Milan vs. CSKA Moscow - March 31, and April 6

The most interesting match ups seem to be between Arsenal and Barcelona, a rematch of the 2006 final, and league leaders Manchester United and Bayern Munich.

Quarter-Finals Almost Set

Today could see all Spanish sides, including the reigning champions, eliminated from the tournament. Perhaps the biggest shock is that Real Madrid, whose Bernabeu is the stage for the Champion's League final, was swept aside by a Lyon side that sits in fifth place(although only two points behind Bordeaux for first) in Ligue 1.

The second legs for the last two match ups from the round of sixteen take place later today. Reigning champions Barcelona go back home sitting in command of a surprising Stuttgart side who almost held Barcelona scoreless two weeks ago before Zlatan Ibrahimovic forced one home. If they lost today, they will be the fourth and final Spanish side swept aside during this years competition. It doesn't seem too likely a scenario, even to Stuttgart Director of Sport, Horst Heldt, who told ESPN Soccernet "If we want to achieve the impossible, we have got to play the game of our lives...But we are not going there just for fun. We do have a mini chance.'' Should be interesting given the result of the first leg.

The other game could send the second French side into the quarter finals when Bordeaux take on lone Greek side Olympiakos. Les Girondins(Bordeaux) took the first leg 1-0 in Greece, giving them an away goal advantage. Olympiakos bum rushed the Frenchmen with header after header in their box, but were just unable to finish anything. If Bordeaux's defense allow the same onslaught, there stands a great chance that they'll concede a goal and perhaps see extra time if they can't equalize. Should be a tough match for both sides.

Both games start at 3:45 EST.

The winners will join the teams in bold below into the quarter-finals of the Champion's League competition.

Arsenal - FC Porto (6-2 Aggregate)
Bayern Munich - Fiorentina (4-4 Away Goals)
Manchester United - AC Milan (7-2 Aggregate)
Lyon - Real Madrid (2-1 Aggregate)
Inter Milan - Chelsea (3-1 Aggregate)
CSKA Moscow - Sevilla FC (3-2 Aggregate)

Players I Look Forward to Watching During World Cup 2010

Below, I've compiled a list of one player from each team in the World Cup. The names are linked to videos of them playing. It's a list of a player from each team I'm really looking forward to seeing in this year's World Cup.

Group A

South Africa - Steven Pienaar
Mexico - Giovanni Dos Santos
Uruguay - Diego Forlan
France - Djibril Cisse

Group B

Argentina - Gonzalo Higuain
Nigeria - Yakubu
Korea Republic - Park Ji-Sung
Greece - Theofanis Gekas

Group C

England - Wayne Rooney
United States - Landon Donovan
Algeria - Nadir Belhadj
Slovenia - Milivoje Novakovič


Group D

Germany- Mesut Özil
Australia - Tim Cahill
Serbia - Zdravko Kuzmanović
Ghana - Michael Essien

Group E

Holland - Wesley Sneijder
Denmark - Nicklas Bendtner
Japan - Keisuke Honda
Cameroon - Samuel Eto'o

Group F

Italy - Andrea Pirlo
Paraguay - Roque Santa Cruz
New Zealand - Shane Smeltz
Slovakia - Martin Škrtel

Group G

Brazil - Alexandre Pato
Korea DPR - Have to say I'm at a loss. I've never seen any of their players in action.
Ivory Coast - Didier Drogba
Portugal - Nani

Group H

Spain - David Villa
Switzerland - Philippe Senderos
Honduras - Amado Guevara
Chile - Alexis Sanchez

Would love some feedback or comments on players you're looking forward to seeing.