Posts Tagged ‘FA Cup’

Pompey fought the gallant fight but in the end Chelsea’s superior firepower, won the FA Cup in a thrilling 1-0 win.

Chelsea had the most scoring chances but the Blues couldn’t pull the trigger until Didier Drogba’s deadly free kick from twenty yards out was squeezed between Portsmouth keepers David James out stretched hand the right post in the 59^th minute.

Prior to Drogba’s deadly strike Pompey had a golden chance to spin the match on its head but Kevin-Prince-Boateng’s PK was stone cold stopped by Blues keeper Petr Cech in the 56^th minute.

Wham bam just like that in a span of three minutes the match was twisted on its ear and the Blues stuck a fork in Pompey’s dream of winning the FA Cup.

Portsmouth is broke and given the heave-hoe all in one season, yet this was a glorious run by the foreclosed side.

The money made from reaching the FA Cup might help the bankrupt Pompey.

Frank Lampard had a chance to increase the Blues lead in the 89^th minute but Portsmouth keeper David James said “No way Jose” and shut em down.

Way to go garoto.

All in all Chelsea was in complete control of the match from beginning to end.

The Blues achieved the daily double winning the EPL and FA Cup titles.

Trust me when I say this Chelsea is heading down the backside of forty. This means Drogba and the boys are getting older. Their window of opportunity is rapidly closing.

They need to bring in younger players to replace the fading stars.

The “Special One” Jose Mourinho brought Drogba and the rest in but the management has not found replacements for them.

Mourinho is good a winning titles with other peoples talent but his ability to build a championship squad stinks.

This is not Mourinho’s strong suit.

Man U had a down year by their standards but remember the Red Devils lost the fake Ronaldo and few other players. The mighty boys from Old Trafford played a very young squad.

Watch out EPL!

My guys from Arsenal are in the same boat. We were besieged by injuries. Younger guys such as Aaron Ramsey, Theo Walcott, and Carlos Vela were asked to step in big time to replace RVP and Cesc Fabregas who were hit by the injury bug.

My Gunners will be ready next year to win the title as well.

Flamengo battles Vitoria later today.

Lets hope Rubro-Negro doesn’t stink the joint out on the road in Salvador.

I wouldn’t bet on it.

Mengao is in shambles.

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The mighty boys from Old Trafford had a chance to move to the top of the table in the EPL. But no, Man U stunk the joint out on the road in a nil-nil tie with Blackburn.

The Red Devils had at least ten chances to get the full three points.

Dimitar Berbatov was the main culprit. This sorry excuse for a striker missed three point blank shots on goal. Berbatov should join the mason for he is better at making bricks than goals.

This tie may have surely cost Man U a shot at the historic four peat.

You can sum up Man U’s performance in two words- you stink.

Nil-nil ties were the order of the day.

Liverpool had a chance to stay within striking distance of Man City but no the Reds blew it big time at home in Anfield. Liverpool and Fulham tied nil-nil.

Sure big time scorer Fernando Torres was absent but jeez give me a break will someone step to the plate and find the back of net.

Not on this day.

Liverpool dominated play but what good does that do if you can’t hit pay dirt.

You can stick a fork in the Reds chances of returning to the Champions League.

Manchester City took care of business against Birmingham winning 5-1.

Emmanuel Adebayor hit the daily double-43^rd and 88^th minutes.

Carlos Tevez scored via the PK route in the 43^rd minute.

Mate Nedum Onuoha had the twin kill as well too- 40^th and 73^rd minutes.

Wolves and Stoke City kissed their sister nada-nada.

Manchester City now has a four-point lead over Tottenham in the race for fourth place in the EPL.

Man City has 62 points. Tottenham has 58 with a game in hand. Spurs take on my guys from Arsenal on Wednesday.

We need a huge “W” just like Tottenham does.

Do you believe in miracles?

You are not going to believe this. Send em packing from the EPL Pompey pulled a huge upset 2-0 win over Tottenham in the FA Cup semis.

Portsmouth needed extra time to score twice to send the Spurs packing.

Frederick Piquionne ripped the twines in the 99^th minute.
Mate Kevin –Prince Boateng added a PK in the 117^th minute to send Pompey to the finals of the FA Cup where they will face Chelsea.

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The Hammers may have saved their season. Yes, sir re Bob West Ham came away with a huge 1-0 win over Sunderland.

Brasilian striker Aruajo Ilan ripped the twines in the 51^st minute for the only tally of the match.

Ilan was inserted into the lineup last week against Everton. His goal earned the Hammers a much needed one all tie with the Toffees.

That goal earned Ilan a staring role. He responded with the match winner.

The win lifted the Hammers into 16^th place with 31 points.

Burnley ripped Hull City 4-1.

The win enabled the Clarets to pull even with the Tigers.

Both sides have 27 points apiece.

Hull City opened up the match with a nifty goal by Kevin Kilbane in the 3^rd minute.

The Clarets responded by scoring the next four goals to win going away 4-1.

Burnley’s Graham Alexander hit for the daily double via the PK route in the 65^th and 70^th minute.

Even though the Tigers lost, they have a game in hand. This game in hand will surely come into play.

So, what else is new. Chelsea ripped Aston Villa 3-0 in semifinals of the FA Cup.

Didier Drogba, Florent  Malouda, and Frank Lampard rammed the twines to lead the Blues in the massacre of Villa.

The more things change the more they stay the same.

Chelsea will have an FA Cup Finals date with either Tottenham or Portsmouth. The Spurs and Pompey will play on Sunday.

The bad news for Portsmouth is this. Pompey was given their walking papers from the EPL.

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Not much is happening in The EPL on Saturday. Only two matches will take place. Hull City battles Burnley. West Ham and Sunderland will duke it out.

These two matches are of extreme importance to Hull City, West Ham, and Burnley.

The Hammers, the Tigers, and the Clarets are on the verge of extinction in The EPL.

If either the Clarets or the Tigers win this baby, the loser will have a fork stuck in their chances staying afloat in The EPL.

One of the FA Cup semifinals will be happening as well too on Saturday.

Chelsea and Aston Villa have a hot date at Wembley Stadium.

Last time out the Blues killed Villa 7-2. Will we have a repeat of the massacre?

We will find out real quick.

If I were, a betting man bet the house on Chelsea.

Chelsea will then turn around and battle Bolton on Tuesday April 13. Oh yes, for we are in nut cutting time.

When the mighty boys from Old Trafford got the heave-hoe from the Champions League, be a force to be reckoned with? 

All the Red Devils have worry about is the EPL title race.

Rooney and the guys will be well rested when they take on Blackburn on Sunday.

Will this tilt the title in the Red Devils way?

We will see.

My guys from Arsenal will be off until Wednesday. We will take on Tottenham. The Spurs have a hot FA Cup semifinal match with Portsmouth

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Adriano was given time off to sort his life. Adriano and his bride Joana Machado were having some problems. UOL had this to say www.uol.com.br O problema pessoal envolvendo o atacante Adriano (confusão num baile funk com a noiva Joana Machado) não foi levado para dentro de campo pelos jogadores do Flamengo. Sendo assim, a equipe rubro-negra, com facilidade, goleou o Resende por 4 a 0, na noite deste sábado, no Estádio Raulino de Oliveira, em Volta Redonda, pela terceira rodada da Taça Rio, segundo turno do Campeonato Estadual.

Did The Emperor’s absence hurt Flamengo? Many would say no way Jose but I beg to differ. Without Adriano in the line up Mengao had a hard time with second division side Resende before finally pulling away in the second half to win 4-0.

Yes, the torrid rain had something to do with the sloppy play but I think Mengao is resting on their laurels and not seriously getting ready to defend their title.

Globo Esporte http://globoesporte.globo.com/  wrote this-A chuva intermitente que castigou Volta Redonda durante todo o sábado prejudicou o estado do gramado, repleto de poças. O toque de bola era difícil, e pelo alto o Flamengo quase abriu o placar. Após escanteio cobrado por Vinícius Pacheco, aos dois minutos, Fernando cabeceou no canto direito e Cleber saltou para fazer excepcional defesa.

Mengao started really slow. Rubro-Negro had several early opportunities to score but Fernando just missed a close range header in the 2^nd minute.  Toro fired a wicked shot on goal but Resende keeper Cleber stopped em cold in the 24^th minute.

Vagner Love wasted a golden opportunity in the 31^st minute. Fabricio forced a ball into the goalmouth. It was pinball machine time. Love just missed putting away the loose ball. Resende keeper Cleber was able to punch the ball out of harms way.

Mengao finally got on the scoreboard in the 37^th minute. Vagner love threaded the needle to mate Bruno Mezenga. Mezenga flew past Resende defender Rodrigo Costa. Bruno Mezenga stopped and popped a shot right into the top shelf left. Cleber never had a prayer to stop this sucker.

The second half was a different story. Mengao pressed the attack. Flamengo scored three-second half goals to salt this puppy away.

Leonardo Moura ripped the twines in the 62^nd minute. His shot off a free kick from just outside the top box beat the keeper Cleber top shelf left.

Mengao scored again in the 72^nd minute. Flamengo worked the ball down the pitch with some precision passing. Vinicius Pacheco was recipient of this great teamwork. He was one on one with the keeper. Pacheco hit a perfect shot just inside the far right post to make 3-0 Flamengo.

Vagner Love capped the scoring in the 82^nd minute. Love had an easy walk goal to make 4-0 Mengao.

This goal was set up by a turnover in the Resende offensive end of the pitch.

Juan pulled the keeper and the defenders away from goalmouth.

Juan lay off a great pass to mate Love who was crashing the far right post.

All and in all it was a win but Mengao was very sloppy with the ball and this could back and hurt them big time.

 Mas a chance inicial parecia chuva de verão. O Resende rondou a área adversária, insistindo no jogo aéreo para Tuta. Disperso, o time rubro-negro errou muitos passes no meio de campo, o que travou o andamento das jogadas.

Vagner Love is a big hit with Mengao. Love is the clubs top scorer with ten goals.Com mais um gol, Vagner Love chegou ao seu décimo na competição e se isolou ainda mais na artilharia do Campeonato Estadual. Dodô, do Vasco, com oito, vem logo atrás.

Love added that this victory was for Adriano.

“O Adriano faz falta ao time e oferecemos esta vitória para ele. Mas jogamos com personalidade e estamos com uma moral maior”, disse Vagner Love.

In the lone EPL action on Sunday Everton dismantled Hull City 5-1. Landon Donovan recorded his first EPL goal in the 82^nd minute.

Mikel Arteta hit the daily double for Toffees.  

FA Cup Quarterfinal action saw Chelsea take care of Stoke City 2-0. Aston Villa doubled up on Reading 4-2. Chelsea and Aston Villa are into the FA semifinals.

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Arsenal picked up a huge 3-1 win over Burnley. Yes, this was a much-needed three points.

We started out with several great scoring opportunities. We were finally able to tickle the back of the net in the 34^th minute.

Cesc Fabregas rifled home a shot right through  the keepers Brian Jensen’s wickets to give us a 1-0 lead.

Samir Nasri set it up with a great chip shot right over the top of the Burnley defense.

Arsenal had one of those brain farts in the 50^th minute. Burnley’s David Nugent knocked home the equalizer to level this baby up at one all.

Mate Leon Cort headed a great pass to Nugent to set up the goal.

We seized the lead in the 60^th minute. Theo Walcott sniped home a perfect low ball. This shot flat out beat the keeper Brian Jensen to the right post.

Finally, Andre Arshavin put this baby out of reach in the 90^th minute with a perfect strike into the back of the net.

Not pretty but we will take it.

This gives Arsenal 61 points.

Bolton scored two first half goals and then held on to beat West Ham 2-1.

Jack Wilshere, on loan from Arsenal, fired home a close range shot in the 20^th minute for the Wanderers.

Kevin Davies ripped a header in the 10^th minute to start this sucker off right for Bolton.

Bolton now has 29 points. The Wanderers are currently in 13^th place. Bolton is five points from the drop zone.

Portsmouth is on the verge of getting shut down for good. Pompey picked a huge 2-0 win over Birmingham in the quarterfinals of the FA cup.

Frederick Piquionne hit the daily double, 67^th, 70^th minute, to make Pompey’s day.

This win is worth 600,000 pounds.

You gotta love it.

The dog saved their hide by beating a very good Birmingham club.

Manchester United has miss fired on all cylinders against Wolves so far.

The Red Devils dearly miss Wayne Rooney. Berbatov is a total waste of time

In a flash, the match changed. Nani broke free on the right side of the box. He fired a pass into the teeth of the Wolves goal line defense. Pinball machine time. Paul Scholes rifled home the point blank shot off a missed played clearance by defender Craddock in the 73^rd minute to give Man U a 1-0 lead.

This was follow the bouncing ball time.

This was a huge goal.

For it sure looked like Wolverhampton would salvage a point.

There is ten minutes left.

We will see what happens.

Manchester hung on for a 1-0 win against Wolves.

Manchester United is now in first place with 63 points.

Road wins are a premium in the EPL.

This was a biggie.

The Blues have a game in hand.

We are in a great position to win this baby.

Remember what I said earlier, Arsenal would win the title. So far so good for the Gunner nation.

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River Plate finally got off the schnid with a huge 1-0 win over San Lorenzo in the Clausura on Thursday March 4^th. Facundo Affranchino ripped the twines in the 69^th minute to secure the win for Los Millonarios.

This was River’s first win in three weeks in the Clausura.

With the victory, Los Millionaires move up to tenth spot with nine points.

Boca Juniors and Velez Sarsfield had a good old-fashioned shoot out on Tuesday March 2^nd.

Both sides drew at four all.

Gary Medel scored the equalizer for Los Xeneizes in the 89^th minute.

Santiago Silva put Sarsfield up 4-3 in the 82^nd minute off a wicked strike that flat out beat the keeper.

Boca currently sits in 12^th place in Clausura with eight points

Banfield took care of business on Thursday March 4^th   by soundly thrashing Colon 3-1. Ramirez had for the daily double (13, 90) and Garcia ripped the twines in the 32^nd minute to put Colon out of their misery.

Bichi Fuertes added a cosmetic goal off a great free kick in the 86^th minute for the Sabaleros’.

Sapito-little toad-Encina hit the match winner in the 86^th minute to lift Gimnasia LP past Chacarita.

Godoy sits atop the Clausura with 15 points. Independiente is second with 14 and Banfield is third with 13.

The EPL has two huge matches that will take place on Saturday.

They will go a long way in determining who will win the EPL.

We have a hot date at home with Burnley.

The Gunners will expect Arshavin, Denilson, and Abou Diaby to be ready to play for us in this all-important encounter at Emirates Stadium.

We need to kick butt and take names.

Three points are a must for Arsenal. 

Chelsea will have a game in hand. This is due to the fact that the Blues have a quarterfinal FA Cup match with Stoke City.

Manchester United takes a little road trip to Molineux Stadium to take on Wolverhampton.

The Red Devils are struggling mightily on the road. Last road outing on February 20^th the boys from Old Trafford had their butts handed to them by Everton 3-1.

Man U stinks on the road.

Man U will be without the services of Michael Owens and Wayne Rooney. Owens will be out for the season with a bad hamstring. Rooney will miss due to a bad wheel.  His knee is in bad shape.

Wolves are currently in 17^th place with 24 points. Wolverhampton is one-step away from getting the heave-hoe.

Hull City has 24 points too.

The only thing that is saving their sorry season is Wolverhampton has a better goal difference than Hull City.

Wolvers are a minus 24 while Hull City is a minus 29.

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Chelsea and Inter battled it out in the first round of the knockout stage of the Champions League. Ex-Blues boss Jose Mourinho is the Inter headman. Ex AC Milan headman Carlo Ancelotti is Chelsea’s main man.

Let’s talk about this barnburner of a match. Inter drew first blood in the 3^rd minute. Alberto Diego Milito did a little side step action to the left. This slick move set up this strike that beat keeper Petr Cech to the short post left.

John Terry played horrible “D” on the play.

Chelsea discovered the answer in the 51^st minute. Salomon Kalou was just outside the top of the box. He fired a weak shot that bounced past keepers Julio Cesar’s outstretched left paw. This should have been an easy stop. But no, Cesar flat out blew it.

The match is knotted at one all.

Inter began to apply the pressure on the Blues “D”.

Esteban Cambiasso fired a wicked shot but Didier Drogba blocked it. Rebound. Shot. Score Cambiasso in the 55^th minute.

Inter is up 2-1.

Oh yes, we have a fight on our hands in Internazionale’s house.

Neither side is playing it safe. Chelsea and Inter are playing fast break, racehorse style futebol. I love it.

We have non-stop end-to-end action.

Both sides have had some great scoring opportunities but neither the Blues nor Inter have yet to pull the trigger.

It is all done. Inter defeated Chelsea 2-1.

The Blues picked up the all-important away goal.

Advantage Inter as we head back to Stamford Bridge for the second part of the story. The return match should be another nail bitter.

Lots of Copa Libertadores action on Wednesday.

Flamengo has a hot date with Universidad Catolica at Maracana. The Chilean side is currently in 11^th place in the Chilean Apertura. Catolica has seven points. They are 2-1-3.

Mengao needs to flat out take it to Catolica.

Adriano and Love need to rip the twines.

Bruno will be out with a pulled adductor muscle in his right thigh. Youngster Marcelo Lomba will in goal. I sure hope this doesn’t kill us. This is the grand daddy of em all in South America-The Copa Libertadores.

Rubro-Negro opens the Copa at home then we are on the road for the next two matches.

Mengao travels to Chile to battle Universidad de Chile and Caracas, Venezuela.

Mengao has not tasted victory in first round play of Copa since 1984.

Flamengo needs to stop this schnid now.

Mengao has six draws and two losses in their previous eight Copa openers.

Not good garoto.

Flamenguistas needs a win.

In fifth round FA Cup replay action, Tottenham took it to Bolton 4-0. Super Russian Roman Pavlyuchenko hit for the daily double in the 23^rd and 87^th minute. The Wanderers hit the daily double own goal in the 35^th and 47^th minute.

Please say it ain’t so Joe.

It is. 

Spurs are on to the next round of the FA cup.

Aston Villa beat Crystal Palace 3-1 to advance to the next round of the FA Cup.

Reading defeated West Brom 3-2.

Reading’s Brian Howard tied this baby up at two all in 90^th minute to send this guy into thirty minutes of extra time.

Gylfi Sigurdsson hit the match winner in the 95^th minute to send West Brom packing.

Stoke City needed the full 120 minutes to stifle City 3-1. This loss sure puts a damper Man City’s season.

Ryan Shawcross scored in the 95^th minute.

Tuncay Sanli fired home the winner in the 99^th minute to put this sucker out of reach.

City is sent packing as well.

Oh what a crazy day in the futebol world.

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Another one of those crazy things happened on the way to the forum proclamations in the FA cup on Sunday. Yes indeed Aston Villa and Crystal Palace tied at two all.

Palace is on the verge of bankruptcy. Palace went into administration. They were deducted ten points. This deduction sent them to almost the rear end of the League Championship table. 

On top of that, the players and managers were not sure if they would have a job at weeks end.

The unthinkable happened. Crystal Palace pulled a miracle out of their hat with a hard fought two all tie Aston Villa.

The heroes of the match were Johannes Ertl and Darren Ambrose. Both men ripped the twines to send Villa back home for a do over.

The money earned from the do over will go to pay off Crystal Palace’s 30 million dollar debut.

The Eagles two all tie with Villa is one of the great feel good stories of the FA Cup. Crystal Palace last played in the EPL 2004-05 season.

The Eagles had a great chance to advance to the quarterfinals when Darren Ambrose’s sniper laser shot from thirty yards out beat Villa keeper Brad Friedel dead to rights.

Villa had other thoughts. Stiliyan Petrov swooped down on the Eagles “D”. He scored in the 87^th minute to save Villa’s bacon.

Villa manager knew this baby against Villa would be a nutcracker. So, Martin O’Neil started his best players.

Bolton and Tottenham tied at one all.

Fulham shut out Notts County 4-0.

Spurs were outplayed for 80% of the match but they had a golden opportunity to win this baby in the 72^nd minute. Instead, it was choke city by Tottenham’s Tom Huddlestone. He fired a perfect shot into the belly of Wanderers keeper Jussel Jaaskelainen.

Give me break Tommy me boy. You wear the choke collar perfect. I mean my main man you telegraphed the shot from a mile away.

Jermain Defoe should have taken the PK but he wore the choke collar a week earlier.

Not to give Defoe too much grief for he was the one who nailed the equalizer in the 61^st minute.

This goal saved the Spurs hide from getting the early heave-hoe. Now it is back Spurs house at White Hart Lane for a do over.

Do overs are great aren’t they.

All in all, it was crazy FA Cup weekend.

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There were no major shockers on this fine Saturday. Yes, Stoke City and Man City tied one all but that was about it.

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Chelsea took care of business. The Blues killed Cardiff 4-1. The Blues scored the opening salvo. Didier Drogba was the recipient of a beautifully placed long ball from mate John Obi Mikel. Drogba took this puppy in stride. He deeked once. Cardiff keeper David Marshall went for the fake. Drogba left him in the dust. Whamo bamo it was 1-0 Chelsea in the 2^nd minute.

Cardiff didn’t give up and melt under Chelsea’s superior forces. Cardiff hung in there. They tied this baby up in the 34^th minute. Michael Chopra faked the Blues defender Alex out of his jock. Chopra ripped the header home to tie this sucker up at one all.

After that, you can kiss this baby bye-bye. Chelsea said enough is enough. The Blues turned on the Afro burners. Chelsea scorched Cardiff for three goals to win going away 4-1.

Ballack, 51^st minute, Daniel Sturridge, 69^th minute, and Salomon Kalou, 86^th minute each scored for the Chelsea juggernaut.

So much for the speculation by the media idiots, that Chelsea was just playing out the string.

Derby gave Birmingham all they could before Blues scored the match winner in injury time to escape with 2-1 win.

Liam Ridgewell nailed home the rebound winner for Birmingham. Mate Kevin Phillips initial shot went clang off the post.

Derby almost found the equalizer when Robbie Savage fired a pile driver at the net. Blues keeper Joe Hart managed to get his paw on the ball and tip it over the crossbar.

Whew, that was close.

Savage missed it by just that much.

On to the next round for Blues instead of the infamous, do over.

Portsmouth blew the doors off of Southampton 4-1. Pompey advanced to the quarterfinals. This may be the only bright spot in an other wise dismal season for Portsmouth.

Pompey is on the verge of bankruptcy and getting the heave-hoe from the EPL.

City was in total control of the match against Stoke City. Shawn Wright Phillips gave City the 1-0 lead in the 11^th minute.

Stoke City used one of the best-known attack weapons to wreak havoc on Man City. City discovered the deadly results of what happens when Rory Delap’s long ball throw in collides with mate’s Ricardo Fuller goal scoring ability.

The result was a death-defying goal in the 57^th minute.

This baby ended in a one all draw.  

Reading and West Brom tied at two all.

Saturdays results saw Chelsea and Birmingham advance while Reading-West Brom, Stoke City-Man City have a do over.

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