RSL Starts 2013 With Key Knocks

Defender Chris Wingert will be among 3 RSL Starters missing opening night

Will things be a little dicey for the Claret and Cobalt not only Sunday night at San Jose but for the opening few weeks of the season?  Well, it could be.  Let's just say some of the new guys and younger guys are gonna get their chance to see if they can fill some pretty big shoes.

None of these injuries are actually news, but seeing it finally official and in black and white on the MLS site kind of stings.  RSL will be missing two out of the four projected starters on their back line, with Nat Borchers and Chris Wingert (above) out for the near future.  Borchers has surgery in early January, and while he has been training, no date has been targeted for his return to the field.  Watson-Siriboe and Schuler should be just fine, but these early matches will be telling as to how much the loss of Jamison Olave will hurt.  Wingert is further away from a return than Borchers, it's possible that he might not see action until late April. (Ouch).  Expect to see Kenny Mansally get his shot.  This excites me as I love what he brings to the pitch.

The other concern is in midfield, as Javier Morales will most likely miss at least the first two matches.  He had surgery after sustaining an injury early on in the preseason.  According to Michael Black on the league site, Javy hopes to be ready in time for the home opener.  I'm actually pretty confident about the midfield though. Luis Gil will be back from international duty and Sebastian Velasquez showed well in preseason.  I think RSL will be ok here in the short term, but they'll need the minutes from Javy throughout the season, especially after resigning him.

So it should be interesting.  Keep in mind that RSL starts off with two huge road tests, at San Jose and at DC United.  The nice part about that is that it's two of the bigger road fixtures out of the way early on.  One less trip back east, and opening night will be the only time that RSL has to play at San Jose all season.  The other two fixtures against the defending Shield winners will take place at Rio Tinto, not that it helped last year.

Check out Black's story on MLSSoccer.com for more info.

Congratulations to Swansea City: 2013 Capital One Cup Champions

Swansea City won the Capital One Cup on Sunday (telegraph.co.uk)

I know it's a couple of days late, but the Puddle would like to pass on congratulations to Swansea City FC, who won the Capital One Cup this weekend, capturing the first major trophy available to the Premier League Clubs this season.

The Swans took League 2 side Bradford City to the woodshed on Sunday, with a cracking 5-0 defeat at Wembley Stadium.  It only took Swansea 16 minutes to go ahead, and their cause was aided by a red card given to Bradford's Mark Duke early on in the second half.  The final margin was the largest in the history of the League Cup.

The victory is historic for a number of reasons.  First off, Swansea become the first Welsh side to win the League Cup.  It's also their first major trophy and punches a ticket to next year's Europa League.  Personally, I love to watch the Swans play football, they do it right.  It'll be really interesting to see how they stack up against other European sides next season!

I also wouldn't be surprised to see the side collect another trophy or two in the next few years.

Champions League Roundup: Bayern Drubs Arsenal. Barca Fall

Didier Drogba returned to Champions League Play with Galatasaray (Getty Images)

The second week of knockout action in the UEFA Champions League action certainly provided some interesting results, though not a lot of it along with the pundits' scripts.  Out of the eight teams that played, probably only one really punched their ticket to the next round, but there definitely could be some surprises in store in the second legs.

The action kicked off on Tuesday with Arsenal hosting last year's finalists Bayern Munich at the Emirates in London.  The Gunners were reeling after the weekend saw them drop out of the FA Cup with a home loss to Blackburn.  Sadly for Arsenal supporters, things didn't improve on Tuesday as Bayern were up two goals within 25 minutes courtesy of Toni Kroos and Thomas Muller.

Arsenal did manage to survive until halftime without conceding again, and a stroke of luck awarded them a comeback goal in the second half.  The referee wrongly awarded a corner kick to the Gunners after Santi Cazorla's shot defected off of his own man.  Bayern 'keeper Manuel Neuer totally flubbed on the corner, missing the ball completely.  Arsenal man Lucas Podolski was in the right place at the right time to nod the ball into goal to give Arsenal hope on on 55 minutes, but Matrio Mandzukic struck in minute 77 to ice the match 1-3 to Bayern.  It's tough to see the Gunners going to Germany and making up the deficit, but as Chelsea fans will tell you, stranger things have happened.  However,  I do believe at this point that Bayern are as good as through.

Tuesday's other match took place in Portugal as FC Porto hosted La Liga's Malaga.  Much of the punditry, especially on Fox, gave Malaga the advantage in this one, despite Porto's excellent record at home in Europe.  Malaga have been decent in La Liga this year, but far from world beaters, and to me, they're a bit over-rated. 

Porto controlled the possession 63%-37%, but the match offered few clear chances for either side.  Finally Porto broke through in the second half though.  Portugal international Joao Moutinho took a pass from Alex Sandro, who positioned him well between the final Malaga defender and goalkeeper. From there it was only for Moutinho to side foot the ball into the net to give Porto the 1-0 win.  The hosts would probably have preferred to see a bigger advantage for all their possession, but Malaga will be disappointed not to come away with the away goal.

The shocker of the week came Wednesday at San Siro in Milan as AC Milan hosted Barcelona, who have looked to be a juggernaut in most of their competitions this year.  Barca seemed to sputter a little more than usual against Milan, albeit on an obviously choppy pitch.  Kevin-Prince Boateng put the home side up early in the second half, but in controversial fashion.  Riccardo Montolivo took a shot the quite clearly deflected off the arm of Milan's Christian Zapata, but there was no whistle.  The ball fell to Boateng, who managed to slot past Victor Valdes to give Milan the 1-0 lead on 56 minutes.  Gerard "Mr. Shakira" Pique was booked for dissent after the goal.

There wasn't controversy in the 81st minute though as Sulley Muntari beat Valdes with an excellent finish to make it 2-0 on full time.  The organized Italian side contained Messi for most of the match and their lead is well deserved, despite the obvious talking point.   Certainly Barca are more than capable of making up the ground at Camp Nou, but it might be a bit tougher without the away goal.  Don't bury them yet though.

The final game of the week took place in Turkey as a revitalized Galatasary squad hosted Schalke 04.  With former UCL champions Wesley Sneijder and Didier Drogba now in the fold, the Turkish side looked to be in good shape for a deep run in the knockout stages.  They even took the lead only 12 minutes in when Burak Yilmaz.  Yilmaz wowed the crowd by flicking the ball over a Schalke defender then banging into the net to get to give the home side a 1-0 lead.

Schalke had some other things in mind though.  Right before halftime Jefferson Farfan set up  US International Jermaine Jones after Gala gave the ball away in midfield.  Jones took the pass and calmly beat Gala 'keeper Fernando Muslera to tie the score at 1-1.  It would be the last scoring of the day.  Schalke will be well pleased with the way goal.

There is some controversy surrounding this result as well as Schalke have officially challenged the match with UEFA.  The concern is over Drogba's inclusion in the Galatasaray squad.  Drogba was given a temporary license with UEFA after the Ivorian striker contended that his contract with the Chinese club he joined was void after they failed to pay his wages for three months.  He then joined Galatasaray.  However, there is some dispute over this, and UEFA is investigating the legal status of the contract.  Schalke is contending that Drogba was ineligible to play pending the outcome of this investigation.  I doubt UEFA will do anything given the temporary license, but we'll see.  At any rate, the result is a positive one for the German club.

City Bulldoze Leeds to Advance in FA Cup

Sergio Aguero celebrates a goal vs Leeds (mirror.co.uk

Once upon a time, Leeds United was one of the top teams in English football and Manchester City were the club trying to come back up through the ranks.  That is certainly not the case anymore, and hasn't been for awhile.  Leeds took on City yesterday in the 5th round of the FA Cup, but couldn't call up any memories of their storied past as Sergio Aguero and company ran roughshod over the Championship side.  At one point the Leeds fans began chanting "You're nothing special, we lose every week."

City took ownership of the contest right from the opening whistle and converted the very first chance of the game on five minutes.  They engaged in some gorgeous one and two touch passing in the Leeds penalty area, which lead to Carlos Tevez finding Yaya Toure driving toward the goal.  Toure secured the pinpoint pass from the Argentine, gave the last Leeds defender and the goalkeeper the traffic cone treatment, and easily slotted the ball into the empty net to give City the 1-0 lead.

The home side continued to press the advantage as well, as it seemed like Leeds couldn't get a touch on the ball.  City looked every bit the Premier League Champions.  In the 14th minute, they played in Sergio Aguero who came at the goal from Leeds' right along the end line. Trying to stop him, Leeds defender Tom Lees grabbed him a couple of times about the arm and chest.  Aguero looked pleadingly at the referee, who somewhat hesitantly blew for a penalty. Aguero put the PK in top of the net to make it 2-0 on 15 minutes and effectively took all the pace out of the match.  Personally, I thought it was a pretty cheap penalty.  Was it a foul and thus a PK by the letter of the law? Probably, but you often see far more contact go unpunished in the penalty area.

In the end it didn't matter much though, but it took City until well into the second half to go further ahead.  In the 52nd minute Aguero again found himself coming up the end line.  This time he unleashed a nifty little cross to the front of goal, which Tevez eagerly connected with, jumping into the air and basically deflecting the ball over the line with his body to make it 3-0.

Surely Leeds must have had some quality chances though, right?  Well, not really.  In the 56th minute Rodolph Austin smacked a shot from distance that ended up being closer to row ZZZ than the goal.  The Leeds fans behind the goal had a bit of a laugh at this, refusing to throw the ball back onto the pitch.  Finally after security started to make their way to the spot, the Leeds folks gave up their entertainment and returned the expensive match ball.  One could hardly blame them for having a bit of sport though, there was nothing going on to interest them down on the pitch.

The match began to resemble a training session, with players completely out of position and zero intensity.  City finally put the last nail the in Leeds FA Cup coffin on 74 minutes and made it a complete laugher.  David Silva dropped a ball into Aguero who was running in straight on this time.  He easily volleyed the ball inside the far post to make it 4-0 and end the day's scoring.

As for City, they now look forward to a big clash this coming weekend with Chelsea in the Premier League.  Leeds, who are stuck in midtable in the Championship, will have to go back to the drawing board as a push for promotion seems to be all that they have left.  Still, eight points back of the playoff positions, that almost seems out of reach at this point as well.

Puddle's Goal of the Weekend: Totti Bombs Juve

Roma's Francesco Totti defeated Juventus with a screamer goal on Saturday

I haven't highlighted any goals for awhile, which is a shame, because as football fans we all love goals.  That being said, you have to check out this absolute bomb by Roma's Captain Francesco Totti.  He volleyed home this stunner after a blocked free kick in the second half of Saturday's match against Juventus.  It turned out to be the game's only goal.

In Support of Robbie Rogers

I just wanted to take a moment here on the blog and reflect on something, err someone, in the football world that made a little bit of history, and I really hope made a little bit of progress.  If you haven't seen the news from yesterday that former Columbus Crew and USA National Team member Robbie Rogers came out as gay and retired from football, you're probably living under some kind of rock.  This isn't a post about the news, but a chance for me to express my admiration and support.

There's no doubt about the fact that men's professional sports is probably the most difficult profession for gay men to be themselves in, or to "be out" if you prefer.  Think about it.  Not only are you on the playing field with a bunch of other guys who consider themselves "men's men," but you also have the increased scrutiny of being in the public eye.  For Rogers, and men like him, they've spent their entire lives working toward a goal which few people ever achieve, being a top level professional athlete and competing for championships.  I'm sure the pressure that they feel to keep up that appearance in the face of who they are and who they love is probably insane at times, and for Robbie, he finally decided that he couldn't do both.

I hope that's just a temporary decision on his part.  He's too young and too talented to be gone from the game, but if I try to walk a mile in his shoes, I can see how he might feel the need to walk away.  His happiness is most important, so if stepping away from the game is what he feels the need to do, then far be it from me to suggest otherwise.  I had the privilege to see him play, and I hope to do so again in future.

I also want to say how impressed I am with the US Soccer community for their show of support of Rogers over the last couple of days.  By far the majority of things I read or heard about him were overwhelmingly positive.  There were a few bad apples, but I'm not going to dignify them with more print.  It was great to see so many players, coaches, and fans throughout the US Soccer community step up and stand behind him in this.  Someone as brave as he is deserves that support.

So I'd just like to say thanks to Robbie for standing up and saying that it's ok to be who you are, and to acknowledge it, even if it's the harder road to hold.  I think he serves as a great example, not just to LGBT folks, but to all of us.  He's a great example of what it means to be a human being, and of the strength we all should find to be ourselves.

De Gea Sparkles as United Draw Real Madrid

United's David De Gea makes a kick save during the second half (telegraph.co.uk)

The Champions League tie between Real Madrid and Manchester United, two of the most high profile sports clubs in the world, definitely lived up to the hype, at least in my opinion.  The match, held in Madrid on Wednesday, produced a number of great chances for both sides, two outstanding goals, and the intense brand of soccer that the UEFA Champions League is becoming known for.  It's like a tournament where every game is a Super Bowl, especially in the final knockout stages.

A lot of the pre-match punditry seemed to really think that United was going to take the wood to Real.  After all, this has hardly been a typically successful year for the Spanish giants, being out of the La Liga race by the new year and facing the imminent departure of their manager, Jose Mourinho, at the end of the year.  He's had public spats with the Spanish media and team captain Iker Casillas, to name a just a couple.

Madrid came out well though, determined to protect their turf. It was obvious from the early going that United 'keeper David De Gea was going to face a firing squad for most of the day.  Sami Khedira ripped a shot wide in just the third minute, followed by another off target effort from Angel Di Maria in the fifth.  In the sixth minute, De Gea made the first of a couple of spectacular saves on the day.  Fabio Coentrao slammed a shot that looked certain to nestle into the corner of the net at the far post, but De Gea, a Madrid native, got a finger to it, tipping it onto the post, where it bounced back across the goal and away from danger.  It really was a superb effort.

Despite Real's hot start, it was United that got on the board first, very much against the run of play.  In the 20th minute the Red Devils sent a corner kick into the six where Danny Welbeck met the ball with a fine header, driving it toward the far post.  Madrid was out of position on the play, with the defender meant to be guarding the far post standing behind 'keeper Diego Lopez instead.  The ball rippled the back of the net to give United a 0-1 lead.

Real Madrid was not to be outdone though.  Ten minutes later, they converted on a corner kick of their own, and it was so well done that De Gea had no shot, even as well as he had been playing.  Cristiano Ronaldo rose on the corner, and exhibited hang time that Michael Jordan would be proud of, heading the ball just inside the far post to make the match 1-1 at the half hour mark.

Both sides continued to manufacture quality chances, but Manchester United really seemed to find their feet in the last 15 of the first half.  Their best chance to take the lead came in the 33rd minute and was again off the head of Welbeck.  This time it was Madrid's Diego Lopez's turn to make a fine save, as he tipped the ball wide of goal to preserve the tied score, which held to halftime.

The English side came out with substantial pressure on the Madrid goal to start the second half as Real's defense seemed incapable of stopping United from putting balls in the box.  The efforts culminated in a 47th minute header from Phil Jones, which drifted wide of the mark following a corner kick.

Di Maria was a danger man for most of the night for Real Madrid, and he forced a couple of quality saves out of De Gea early on in the second half.  The first came in the 52nd minute when De Gea grabbed a low driven shot by Di Maria and held it, preventing a rebound that might have been exploited by an onrushing Madrid attacker.  It wasn't just Di Maria that caused the United 'keeper trouble though.  In the 61st minute Coentrao sent a close range blast toward the near post, but once again De Gea was up to the task, making an acrobatic kick save right at the post to knock the ball out of danger.  It was a great reaction from the United shot-stopper.

United would have one more good chance at a winner as well.  In the 72nd minute, Lopez parried an effort from Robin Van Persie off the crossbar, but the ball bounced back down into the area.  Van Persie got there, and didn't hit it quite right, but managed to chip it over Lopez and send it rolling toward the unprotected goal line.  Xabi Alonso came rushing in to save the day for Real, sliding in and just clearing the ball away from the line to keep the draw.

In the end, the match slowed as United was obviously fatigued from their Sunday match, and Mourinho seemed to be content to keep the draw, trusting in his squad's ability to score at Old Trafford.  United will probably be more content with the result though, leaving Spain with the away goal in their pocket.  It really was quite the match.

Quakes Beitashour Out After Surgery

San Jose's Steven Beitashour underwent sports hernia surgery on Thursday.

San Jose's early season squad took a hit today as the team announced that defender Steven Beitashour will miss 4-6 weeks following sports hernia surgery on Thursday.  This has him missing the Earthquakes season opening fixture on March third against Real Salt Lake. 

According to the Quakes, Beitashour had surgery in November to repair the sports hernia, but he suffered complications during the US Men's National Team Training Camp  in January, which forced him to leave early.  The surgery today cleaned up some scar tissue and repaired a nerve. 

Last year Beitashour started 33 games for the Quakes and was selected to the MLS All Star Team.  He is expected to be replaced by former Chicago and Toronto FC man Dan Gargan, who the Quakes brought in the offseason.  Gargan is certainly capable of holding his own at right back, but this could be significant for the Quakes.  Not only was Beitashour solid at the back, but he dished out six assists in contributing to the Quakes banner offensive campaign. 

In other Quakes news, the defending Supporters Shield winners resigned Ramiro Corrales and also picked up Mike Fuctio.  Corrales is the only player still active from the inaugural MLS season, while Fucito has bounced from team to team the last couple of years.

Click here for the official Quakes story on Beitashour.

Louis Saha Joins Lazio

Lazio has signed French Striker Louis Saha on a free transfer.

Serie A club Lazio has had the need to fill a hole in their forward corps since Miroslav Klose went down with a knee injury.  They've turned to French International Louis Saha to try and fill that void.  That's right, that Saha, of Everton and United fame, among others.

Saha had been playing with Sunderland in the EPL this year but had failed to tally a goal in 11 appearances, all off the subs bench.  His contract with the Black Cats was terminated at the end of January by mutual consent.  We'll see how he does, as Klose is out at least eight weeks.  Saha's contract will last for six months.

Last year Saha spent the better part of the season at Spurs after leaving Everton.  He scored 3 goals in 10 appearances for Tottenham.  He was released in July 2012, then signed by Sunderland.  He has 20 caps and four goals for the French senior side.

Moving Forward: Female Commentator Calls German Match

Christina Graf called German Second Division action for Sky this weekend.

I really wanted to put this story on the blog to give us all a dose of good news when we've heard so much about racism, violence, and riots lately in world football.  Here's a positive story of a woman and a company making history and headlines.....for the better.

Today a young lady named Christina Graf became the first female to provide commentary on a men's football match in Germany.  She worked the second division match between Hertha Berlin and Jahn Regensburg, which Hertha won 5-1.  Previously Graf won a competition for the broadcasting job by beating out over 1,000 applicants to work for Sky.  Before the match she told the DPA news agency: ''I'm happy that I can start slowly with the second division at first. It's a huge opportunity, but I'm not the very extroverted type and won't go ballistic.''

Women have been calling women's matches in Germany and around the world for a few years, but we've seen precious little of it on the men's side of things.  Certainly football knowledge is not dependent on one's gender, and as long as the person is insightful and entertaining, it could be a man or a woman and be just fine by me.  Certainly there are plenty of young female football fans, and sports fans in general out there, some of whom might have the dream to go into broadcasting.  Maybe in a few years we can look back and see that this was a foundational moment for some of these dreams.

At any rate, congratulations to Ms. Graf, may she have a long and prosperous career!