Viva Futbol Volume 54

ESSAY: May 2, 2010

American Soccer Fan
    I don’t like to think of myself as an angry person, but there are a lot of things out there that can really push my buttons. Out of all the things that make me angry the first that came to mind while trying to think of something to rant about just happened to be “ American Soccer Fans”. Obviously we all have our own opinions regarding sports. And in the end this paper is only my opinion.( after all this is a rant.) 
    Everyone has a favorite sport, and mine is soccer. I follow my favorite team, Tottenham Hotspur, and watch them play every weekend in the English Premier League. Watching soccer on saturday morning is something that I look forward to every week, and the only thing worse than watching my team lose is having to watch the game with an “ American Soccer Fan.” Yes, I realize that I am an American and I am a soccer fan, but I am NOT an “ American Soccer Fan”
    There are so many things about the “ American Soccer Fan” that really piss me off. First of all, they ask so many questions, and I hate answering the typical “ American Soccer Fan” questions such as, “ What does offsides mean?”, “ Why do soccer players spend so much time on the ground faking injuries?”, and “ How was that a yellow card?”. I don't really want to think about how many times I have been asked those questions, and to be honest I am getting angry just thinking about it.
    The “American Soccer Fan” is a fan of one of six teams. Barcelona, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Real Madrid, and AC Milan are the only teams that the “ American Soccer fan is capable of liking. After all, if you know any more than those six teams then you are not the true “American Soccer Fan.” Out of all the “American Soccer Fan” traits the six favorite teams trait is the most understandable since people want to like the best team, and most people have no local ties to a team which is how most people choose a favorite football or baseball team. However this is no excuse for being an “ American Soccer Fan”.
    Out of all the “American Soccer Fan” quotes the one that never ceases to upset me is the “ I wish there were more goals scored in soccer games.” Whenever someone says this I just want to scream at them. First of all, if you want to see more goals then go watch a different sport and leave me to watch my soccer game in peace. This fall I watched a soccer game that ended 9-1, and by the end I was so bored that I had to leave. What is fun about that? The truth of the matter is that the best soccer games end either in a tie or with a team winning by one goal.
    If you are an “ American Soccer Fan” and you are reading this then please hear me and change your ways.
   

How 'Bout Those Spurs

So its been a long time. A very long time since I last posted anything on this site. Its funny because last year around this time I first decided to start writing a blog. After I got out of school I was too busy with my summer job to continue writing. Now it is spring again, and after spending 5 hours memorizing 12 lines of the Aeneid last night for latin class, so I decided to write a little bit.

To me, this season has been sensational. Not only has the standing order of the top 4 teams been upset, but it has been upset by Tottenham. The order of the top four hasn't been upset since the 1996-97 season. And Wednesday if Spurs defeat Manchester City then it will be set in stone. In my opinion this has been coming for a long time, and it is a good change. The top four have dominated English football for far too long.

Viva Futbol Volume 41

Premier League is Back in Full Swing

After a very interesting summer of transfers and World Cup Qualifying the regular season of the premier league in back into full swing. To be totally honest the premier league underwent so many changes this summer that it feels like a brand new league. By far the biggest news to hit me this summer was the transfer of Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid for an astronomical fee of over 100 million euros. Then Manchester United also sold Carlos Tevez to Manchester City. the result of these two transfers has put the red devils into a tight spot at the beginning of the season. Manchester United proceeded to spend more money by purchasing the likes of Adebayor from Arsenal. Of Course Burnley F.C., Wolverhampton, and Birmingham City joined the Premier League over the summer after promotions from the lower league.

Now that we are 4 gameweeks into the season, the changes that occured over the summer have appeared to have had a pretty major effect on the table. Going into game week five, the table looks like this. As a Tottenham Supporter i am very pleased to see Spurs sitting comfortably with Chelsea atop the table with 12 points and a perfect run. Of Course you can see that Both Liverpool and Arsenal have dropped out of the top four. Some of this is due to some luck especially on Manchester Uniteds part as they narrowly beat Arsenal last weekend thanks to and own goal.

Over all i am very excited about the premiership this season and maybe some new possibilities for some teams that we haven't seen alot of over the past few years. (Especially Tottenham)  

Viva Futbol Volume 36

Viva Futbol Volume 37

Premier League Roundup: 5/18/09

Well this weekend pretty much wrapped everything up in the Premier League, there are still a few unanswered questions like who will be the two other teams to be relegated with West Brom, and who will qualify for the UEFA Cup, and the Champion's League for next year. Anyways lets start with Manchester United.

Sir Alex and The Red Devils secured their 18th Premier League Championship win after a scoreless draw against Arsenal on Saturday morning. ( We all saw it coming) Besides Arsenal, both Liverpool and Chelsea secured wins over the weekend as well as their spots in next year's Champion's League group stage. Liverpool's 2-0 win over West Brom also proved to be the nail in the coffin for the now relegated West Brom side. Newcastle also lost over the weekend to Fulham, and Middlesbrough dropped all the way down to 19th place after a 1-1 draw with Aston Villa. Meanwhile Tottenham pulled themselves up to eighth place after a 2-1 win over Manchester City which showed some possibilities for next year for spurs. Also Everton routed West Ham 3-1 over the weekend. Today Sunderland and Portsmouth are playing at 3 in what is a very important game for both teams as 3 points would put either team clear of relegation fears.

Viva Futbol Volume 32

Iniesta Equilizer: Champion's League

Update: 5/14/09

First of all I would like to apologize for my lack of posts over the last few weeks, school is getting very close to finishing and the work just keeps piling up.

Back to football. There has been alot happening since i last posted, im going to try and keep it short and sweet. Starting with the Champions League. On May 5th Manchester United finalized their place at Rome with 3-1 win over Arsenal. The game featured a strong United defence as well as a huge Cristiano Ronaldo free kick from 40/35 yards out ( These things never cease to amaze me) . Manchester United probably didnt get everything that they wanted out of the game however, Darren Fletcher picked up a red card in a spot of bad refereeing which gave up a penalty as well. The real game came on Wednesday when Chelsea played Barcelona at the Bridge for the other spot in the Finale. For most of the game things were going against Barcelona, with Michael Essien returning from injury in style with a 9th minute volley into the back of the net. The game was far from over however. The game stayed at 2-0 favoring Chelsea all the way up till the 90th minute when Iniesta scored a remarkable goal that proved to be enough to knock the Blues out. The game went into 7 minutes of extra time with claims for penalties from Chelsea. Need less to say this game was very controversial. The referee was terrible, a total of 8 cards were given out including a red card to Barca's Eric Abidal, and a yellow to Dani Alves which means that neither player will be elligible to play in the Finale against Man U. I will write a Preview for the Finale sometime in the next two weeks so keep you eyes open for it.

Moving onto the Premier League, last weekend proved to be very big for some teams involved in both the relegation battle and the title race. Manchester United won again Manchester City on Saturday morning 2-0, and Today they beat Wigan 1-2. Together those two games put Manchester United up to 86 points 6 points ahead of Liverpool. Liverpool beat West Ham 3-0, Tottenham tied Everton, Fulham and Sunderland tied as well. But the two biggest games for me were the 4-1 Chelsea win over Arsenal, and the 3-1 Newcastle win over Middlesbrough. If you look at the table below you will see that Hull City, Sunderland, and West Brom are now the 3 teams at the bottom of the table. Sunderland and West Brom are olnly three points down so if they can pull off an upset next weekend we could see some serious termoil at the bottom of the table.

As far as next year goes we can be looking at Wolverhampton, Birmingham City, Sheffield United, and reading for possible inductees into the Premier league so be sure to keep an eye on that.

Here is the table as it stands now.

Premier League Roundup: 5/03/09

The Premier League continued on Saturday with some very important games to be played. Manchester United kicked things off with a very convincing 2-0 win over Middlesbrough, who now find themselves in a very bad place at 19th place on the table and a full 3 points behind 17th place Hull City. United's win pulled kept them at the top of the table and a full 6 points ahead of Liverpool who played on Sunday. Also on Saturday Chelsea beat 9th place Fulham 3-1 which pulled them up level with Liverpool. Manchester City also played Blackburn on Saturday; they also cam away with a 3-1 win. Jermain Defoe made his return from injury on Saturday in Spur's 1-0 win of West Brom. The one goal came from Jermain Jenas just before half time was enough to get all three points. West Brom are pretty much relegated now, They sit at the bottom of the table with a mere 28 points and will be playing two of their last 4 games against both Manchester United and Liverpool. Meanwhile Arsenal beat Portsmouth 3-0 , and Two teams from the middle of the table also battled it out on Saturday, Bolton and Wigan, the game ended in 0-0 draw. The final game on saturday saw West Ham triumph 1-0 over Stoke City.

Sunday's games proved just as bad for the other teams at the bottom of the table. Liverpool destroyed Newcastle 3-0 on Sunday and reset the top of the table leaving Manchester United on top with a 3 point lead and Liverpool in 2nd with a 3 point lead over 3rd place Chelsea. The last game on sunday pitted Everton against Sunderland who are currently sitting uncomfortable at 16th place. Everton won the game 2-0. There is one game on monday still to be played between Aston Villa and Hull City. If Hull could secure a win or even a draw, they would be able to put alot of pressure on the bottom three teams.

What's Wrong with American Soccer? Part III: Where is the Passion?

First of all let me clarify what i mean by " Where is the passion?" I am not talking about most players in the MLS or the National Teams, nor am i talking about Coaches. Players and Coaches have passion for the game or they wouldnt be playing, because most of these boys dont get paid too much anyways. I am talking about the pasion (or lack there of) of the citizens of this country. Answer this for me: How many times per day do you see someone walking around in an MLS jersey, for me it's about 0 times per day. Go over to Europe and look for soccer jerseys, and you could easily see more than 100 per day. Its not that we dont wear soccer jersey's in America it is simply that most Americans are not passionate about American soccer. Sure, people go to MLS games and National team games, but i think that they are there for the wrong reason. In order for American Soccer to succeed there has to be pure passion and love for the game. This "passion must encumpass not only the players and coaches, but also the fans and the community.

Champions lLeague Roundup: Semi Finals 1st Leg

Im not gonna lie to you and say that I enjoyed the Champion's League Semi Finals as much as i enjoyed the Quarterfinals, my hope is that the Final in Rome will produce some more exciting football. With that having been said, the 1st leg of the Semi-Finals did produce some results.

The most boring of the two games was easily the Chelsea vs. Barcelona match up at Camp Nou. The game ended in a 0-0 draw with each team only grabbing a few chances to score. The game became a huge battle on defence especially for Chelsea who had to keep a number of players back to contain Lionell Messi, Henry, and Eto. I personally feel that Chelsea came away the victors simply because they didnt allow Barca to score a goal. The second leg of this match up will be at Stamford Bridge and will be Chelsea's chance to attack, of course some would say that Barca have the advantage due to the away goal rule. After looking at the my predictions for the second leg are this:
Chelsea 1-0 Barcelona

For me atleast, the Manchester United vs. Arsenal game was way more fun to watch. The game ended 1-0 for Manchester United thanks to a goal from John O'Shea (immagine that) O'Shea's goal came in the 17th minute off a cross into the box. However, Manchester United could have easily won this game four or five to 0. Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, and Carlos Tevez all had a number of great looks on goal. The only reason that Arsenal came through down by only one goal was thanks to their keeper Manuel Almunia, who had a very impressive game. Besides that Arsenal had a few chances to score here and there, but it seemed to me that the game was United's all night long. For the second leg at Emirates Stadium I would put my money on the boy's from Old Trafford once again. My prediction:
Manchester United 2-0 Arsenal

Heroes

A new compilation series by Alarazboy.