Match Thoughts: Timbers Rise Up at Rapids Expense

Portland's Bright Dike celebrates his match winning goal (Getty Images)

The Portland Timbers and the Colorado Rapids are in the midst of a rare, true home and home set in MLS play.  Last night Portland hosted the Rapids at Jeld-Wen, The Rapids will host Portland in the "return leg" Wednesday night at 5280.  In most leagues in the world, this would also be a relegation battle, with Portland coming in at the foot of the Western Conference table, and the Rapids just one spot ahead of them.  Both teams needed the 3 points to attempt to make something out of the season.

The first half started kind of nervy, and while the teams did exchange some half chances, the threats weren't serious as neither side looked like they wanted to make the big mistake.  It was also very physical with both sides pretty much giving as good as they were getting in the hits department.  However, as we approached the end of the half, it looked it was just going to be a dud.

That turned out not to be the case though as the Timbers lit a fire under the match in the 45th minute.  The men in Rose City Red came up and the ball found its way to the foot of Sal Zizzo, who gave the Rapids trouble all night long.  Zizzo sent a nice cross into the box, and Bright Dike guided the ball past Matt Pickens to make it 1-0 to the Timbers.  Just a minute or so later, Portland nearly doubled the lead as Darlington Nagbe took a gorgeous long pass and got through on goal.  Unfortunately for the Timbers Army, he put his shot wide of the mark to end the half.

The Rapids responded well though, and came out and controlled long stretches of the second half.  Martin Rivero looked pretty good as usual, and new arrival Hendry Thomas showed some nice flashes as well, but the story for the Rapids, as has been so many times this season, was a lack of finishing.

They had two really great chances to equalize late in the match, but were not able to get the ball on frame to test Donovan Ricketts, who had injured his arm earlier in the match.  In the 86th minute Omar Cummings headed a ball wide from the six yard box.  He really should have scored, but the Jamaican's poor run of form continued.  Then in the first minute of stoppage Andre Akpan took a little ball from Jaime Castrillon for a nice look in front of goal, but he pounded his shot wide as well and the match finished 1-0 to the home side.

As mentioned earlier, the teams will take up the issue again Wednesday at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.  Last place will again be on the line, as this win put the Timbers one point ahead of the reeling Rapids, who fall to the bottom of the West.

Match Thoughts: Crew Deal Gut-Punch to Union Hopes

Eddie Gaven celebrates his match winning goal. (Getty Images)

The Philadelphia Union were in dire need of three points at home in this one to keep their flagging playoff hopes alive.  Last Friday they had failed to capitalize on an RSL team weary from Champions League battles, and this week they faced a surging Columbus Crew side, who have playoff designs of their own.

The match had a rather cagey opening to it as both sides had reason to be a bit nervy.  As mentioned earlier, the Union were in need of the points, and were winless in their last five.  The Crew were minus starting goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum and were fielding rookie Michael Lampson in place of him.  The Union failed to test the youngster early, as he was more than able to survive a couple of half chances from the Philly attack.

That all changed in the 29th minute though.  Chris Birchall had dragged down Michael Farfan about thirty yards from goal, setting up a direct free kick in a dangerous spot.  Carlos Valdes stepped up for the Union and took the kick, which bounced off of two Columbus players before trickling past a helpless Lampson into the bottom corner to make it 1-0 to the Union.

The goal really didn't seem to stun the Crew much.  They began immediately chipping away at the Union defenses in search of an equalizer.  The Union were the next to concede a dangerous set piece chance, and the Crew made them pay.  Frederico Higuain sent his free kick in toward the six, where it met Josh Williams.  The Crew defender headed into goal to knot the match at 1-1 in the 41st minute.

The second half started as blandly as the first did, but things got rather spicy in the 68th minute.  The referee blew his whistle after a clearance and ran back into the Crew attacking third to confer with his assistant, who had witnessed an off the ball scuffle between Josh Williams and the Union's Antoine Hoppenot.  There really weren't any good replays available, as the camera had followed the ball up the pitch.  However, apparently Williams had at least shoved Hoppenot.  Williams was given a straight red card and Hoppenot was shown a yellow.  This put the Crew down to 10 men with just over 20 minutes to go and had the Union licking their chops.

Philly then pushed forward and put Lampson's goal under heavy bombardment.  The young keeper was up to the task, though he did give up a couple of scary rebounds.  He made the biggest stop of the match on 80 minutes against Gabe Farfan, who looked sure to give the Union the lead right near the goal line.

Unfortunately for the Union, they were so busy keeping up the pressure at the offensive end that they left their back door pretty much unguarded.  You can't really blame them, a draw would would have done them absolutely no good, but it created a brutal way to lose.  The Crew went on a counter attack right at the death in stoppage time.  Higuain again pulled the strings, before getting the ball to Justin Meram in the area, who smartly dished over to Eddie Gaven who slotted the ball home to give the Crew the 1-2 win.

The 3 points for the Crew ties them on 39 points with the Montreal Impact.  Both clubs sit two points behind the Chicago Fire and DC United for the 4th and 5th  playoff spots, respectively.  This makes the match between Spurs and l'Impact this weekend even more juicy. 

The Union are pretty much toast.  They're stuck on 25 points, 16 back of the last playoff spot and only 4 ahead of TFC for last place.  Yet after this match, they signed Hackworth as a permanent coach while Adu gets nothing but garbage minutes.  If I were a Union supporter, I'd want answers.  This was a playoff team last year.

EPL Dealings: Down to the Wire!

Forget throwball and politics, it's officially transfer deadline day!  Different leagues across Europe wrap up proceedings at different times, but if the business is to be done, it has to be done today!  For the Barclay's Premier League, the window officially closes a little more than 15 hours from the writing of this entry.  Some big moves have already gone down in the last couple of days with promise of more in the next few hours!

                                                       

In one of the big high profile moves of the day, Liverpool striker Andy Carroll has joined West Ham on a season long loan deal.  Reports are also saying that the Irons will have an option to buy at the end of the loan.

Carroll cited the fact that he had worked with West Ham boss Sam Allardyce at Newcastle as a big reason why he wanted to make the switch.  Last year Liverpool paid 35 million pounds for the big striker's services, but it appears the Hammers finally met the loan conditions.  Carroll told West Ham's website that he's just looking forward to playing games and hopefully scoring some big goals for the side.

Elsewhere in London, QPR have confirmed the signing of Inter Milan goalkeeper Julio Cesar.  The deal is still pending international clearance and the visa process, but the Brazilian looks set to begin a four year stint at Loftus Road.  In 7 years between the pipes for Inter, Cesar won the Serie A title five times as well as the UEFA Champions League and FIFA Club World Cup.  This is a big addition for Mark Hughes' side.

Elsewhere in England, Swansea City have finally agreed to a fee to sell Scott Sinclair to Manchester City.  The Swans rejected a 6.2 million pound offer on Tuesday, but the new City offer supposedly has possible bonuses taking the price up to around 8 million for the former Chelsea man.  Sinclair is holding talks with City on personal terms.  If this goes through, the Swans are likely to continue in their pursuit to sign Spanish veteran Pablo Hernandez from Valencia

Finally, back in London. Fulham look set to sign up Manchester United man Dimitar Berbatov.  At last reports Berbatov was at Fulham taking a medical.  Fulham had previously sold Moussa Dembele to Spurs earlier this week, and they're still fielding options for Clint Dempsey.

That brings us back to Liverpool, who are trying to land two rather large fish.  As mentioned earlier, rumors have persisted that Anfield is keen to move for US International Dempsey, who has sat out Fulham's opening matches.  However there has been little concrete evidence of the process going forward, so it remains to be seen.  The other rumor for the Reds has to do with Athletic Bilbao striker Fernando Llorente.  However, this deal was seen as contingent upon being able to SELL Andy Carroll, so it remains to be seen.

One thing is for sure, by the time my American readers get this in the morning, the landscape will have shifted even more.  Look for a full round-up tonight on the Puddle.

Champions League Draw and Predictions

Today was a day almost like Christmas Eve, or maybe Thanksgiving, for supporters of Europe's big clubs.  UEFA held the Champions League draw, and now we all know which big teams will be squaring off and which minnows are going to get a shot at upsetting someone to make it into the knock out stage.  As usual, the draw was exciting, and gave us a lot to talk about.

First off I'll list the groups, then I'll give my impressions/predictions.

GROUP A--
Porto
Dynamo Kiev
Paris St. Germain
Dinamo Zagreb

GROUP B--
Arsenal
Schalke
Olympiakos
Montpellier

GROUP C--
A.C. Milan
Zenit St. Petersburg
Anderlecht
Malaga

GROUP D--
Real Madrid
Manchester City
Ajax
Borussia Dortmund

GROUP E--
Chelsea FC
Shakhtar Donetsk
Juventus
FC Nordsjaelland

GROUP F--
Bayern Munich
Valencia
Lille
BATE Borisov

GROUP G--
Barcelona
Celtic
Benfica
Spartak Moscow

GROUP H--
Manchester United
Braga
Galatasaray
CFR Cluj

The first thing that jumped out at me, and probably for most soccer watchers is group D, which in this case really is the Group of Death.  That groups contains the Spanish, English, German, and Dutch champions.  Who will come out of that group?  Well, I think Madrid for sure. but the rest is up for grabs.  It's tough to see Ajax making it out, so it's probably between City and Dortmund.  Sure, Dortmund lost Kagawa, but City will be in trouble if they don't have Aguero back.  I'm taking Madrid and Dortmund.

Group A seems pretty forward.  I'll take PSG and Porto, though I think Kiev could be a pitfall.  Group B seems pretty straight up as well.  I'll take Arsenal and Schalke 04, my favorite German side.  For group C, I'll take Milan and Zenit.

Group E is a little more interesting with Italian Champs Juventus and the defending European Champs Chelsea.  I'll take both of those clubs to advance, but both will have to contend with Donetsk, who are always an upset special.

My group F prediction my surprise a few.  Of course I'll take Bayern, but I'll also take Lille.  I've never been sold on Valencia in these competitions.  Borisov has been here before, but I don't see them making noise.

For group G, the obvious pick is Barcelona, but I'm going with Celtic to join them in the knockout stage.  This club is flying the flag for Scottish football this year, I think they've got a ways to carry it yet.

Manchester United can hardly complain about their draw in group H.  Seems like a walk in the Champions League park.  Sir Alex isn't going to sit for another group stage exit, so I'll take the Red Devils and Braga.

I wish these epic matches started right away.

MLS Roundup: Bunbury Out, Toja to Revs, Portland May Have Their Man

Sporting Kansas City Forward Teal Bunbury is out for the season. 

There are three big new items on the minds of MLS watchers early this week.  Unfortunately for Sporting Kansas City, they get the bit of unfortunate news.  Striker and American international Teal Bunbury suffered an ACL tear in the 4th minute of Sporting's draw with NYRB last weekend.  He will undergo surgery on Friday and will miss the remainder of the season and the playoffs. 

The loss is a decent sized blow to Sporting, as Bunbury had been rounding into good form.  He had 5 goals in 22 league matches for SKC, and also had a goal during their run to the US Open Cup Championship.  The Puddle wishes Mr. Bunbury a full and speedy recovery.

In MLS player acquisition news, the New England Revolution have acquired 27 year old former MLS All Star Juan Toja through the allocation process.  Before trying his luck in Europe, the former Colombian youth international had some strong seasons in MLS with FC Dallas, scoring 8 goals in 43 league matches.  Apparently the Revs had been contacted by clubs trying to trade into the spot to get Toja, but they've gone ahead and taken him on.  It will be interesting to see where he fits in with the Revs midfield.

The final news is not yet official, but media outlets in Portland are reporting that the Timbers will announce University of Akron head coach Caleb Porter as their new manager Wednesday morning.  Porter has been at the helm of one of the most successful college programs in recent memory at Akron, but failed to play that success into another level when he failed to guide the US U-23 squad into the London 2012 Olympics.  We'll see how much patience the folks in Portland have, because they were obviously not happy with Gavin Wilkinson:

Photo Credit: Associated Press

EPL Thoughts: Liverpool Gifts City a Point at Anfield

Carlos Tevez celebrates his equalizing goal (Reuters)

Last week Liverpool played poorly in a loss to West Brom at the Hawthorns.    They faced an even tougher test this weekend as they hosted defending champions Manchester City at Anfield in their home opener.  There was much to be excited about for the Liverpool faithful in this one as things looked a lot better on the offensive end.  Unfortunately, two absolute howlers at the back gifted City all they would need to walk away from Merseyside with a point in their pocket.

City started out on the right track as they they probed for weaknesses in Liverpool's back line.  However the Reds did a really nice job of limiting any quality looks at goal for the Champions.  In the 9th minute Aleksandar Kolarov sent a threatening free kick on target, but Pepe Reina was positioned well and was able to easily field the shot in front of net.

However it was only a little bit of good fortune that kept the game level in the 19th minute.  Carlos Tevez squirted free of the defense and sent in a shot/cross along the end line.  Reina took a diving stab at it as did Martin Kelly.  Neither of them could alter the ball as it ended up rolling pretty much right on the goal line toward the far post.  At the end, it struck the post and took an Anfield friendly bounce away from the goal and the Reds breathed a sigh of relief.

Liverpool ended the first half with a bang, quite literally.  In the 34th minute Steven Gerrard sent a good looking corner kick into the City area and Martin Skrtel came flying in from nowhere to meet it.  His bullet header gave Joe Hart no chance before it stabbed into the back of the net to give Liverpool the 1-0 lead going into the interval.  Skrtel celebrated, but he would have a further effect on things in the second half.

The second half started a bit slowly, but turned into a real cracker when it came to life.  Luis Suarez nearly doubled Liverpool's lead in minute 50, but didn't get enough on his shot as his slow ground roller dragged just wide of the far post.  Then in the 63rd the Champions were able to equalize.  Tevez sent an airborne ball across the face of goal, one that Reina should have been able to punch clear rather easily.  However he totally botched it, and the ball went through to Kelly.  The fullback also could have cleared, but it bounced off of his knee and fell to Yaya Toure, who took full advantage for City.  The Ivorian easily tapped the ball into the open goal to equalize at 1-1.

Credit goes to Liverpool for not dwelling on their misfortune though.  They came right back to the other end of the pitch looking to reclaim the lead.  That happened in the 65th minute off the foot of Luis Suarez.  The mercurial striker had difficulty finding the target in the early going, but he sent a gorgeous free kick around the Manchester City wall that beat Joe Hart into the bottom corner to make it 2-1 to the Reds.

Manchester City piled on the pressure though, and there was still plenty of time for Liverpool to suffer from another self-inflicted wound.  In the 80th minute Skrtel sent a lazy rolling back pass in toward Reina from about a third of the way up his defensive half.  The Reds defender seemed blissfully unaware of the presence of Tevez for City, who easily picked off the pass and headed toward the goal.  He juked Reina out of his boots in the 18, and easily slotted home the goal to make it 2-2, which was the score at the full time whistle.

First off for City, it's not good news that they're giving up so many goals.  Defense was a strength of this team last season, and as yesterday's result shows, they can't win every match 3-2, especially with Aguero out injured.  If they can tighten up at the back though, they should be fine.  Tevez seems to be firmly back in the fold, which will help immensely.  

Liverpool is extremely unfortunate to drop points in this one.  Brendan Rodgers said after the match that they should have won.  This is true.  Both City goals were gifts from Liverpool, especially the second one.  You can't just press on and ignore that though.  If the Reds defense can't become more disciplined, there will be more gifted goals in the offing and more dropped points on the horizon.  It was definitely a step in the right direction offensively though.

Puddle's Goal of the Weekend: A Sublime Higuain Free Kick

We're back to MLS this week for our goal of the weekend.  It was a really tough call for me between Frederico Higuain and Freddy Montero.  Both players had absolutely outstanding matches.  In the end I decided to go with this frighteningly good free kick from the Crew's new addition.  A great strike.

What do you think? Will the Crew have a say in the Eastern Conference Playoff race before all is said and done?