Not so “Super” Sunday 20 April.

Aston Villa 5 - 1 Birmingham City

Why doesn’t Fox Soccer Channel show all of the goals? For example, we see all of Aston Villa’s five goals against Birmingham City, but we are not shown City’s goal. We don’t know if it was a defensive breakdown, an the goalkeeper throwing the ball in his own net, or brilliant goal of the year. Who scored the goal? Does FSC pay for the rights to show the goals of only one team?

FYI: the scorers were (Villa) - Young (2), Carew (2), Agbonlahor; (B’ham) - Forssell

Blackburn Rovers 1 - 1 Manchester United. 19th April 2008

A game of two halves as the home team edged the first 45 minutes with santa Cruz scoring and Manchester United pourng forward in the second the find the equaliser that eventually came in the form of a header by Tevez. The game was notable for the number of penalty appeals igored by ref Rob Stiles. The lack of fear shown by the Blackburn players was something that other teams might learn from.

Guinness “Brilliant” Play of the Day

Oh dear! The “analysts” choosing the Guinness Brilliant Play of the Day for each live game seem to be choosing any play by the bigger of the two clubs involved in the game yet again. First off we had the Liverpool v Reading game that FSC’s Bobby McMahon correctly identified on yesterday’s (15 Mar 0 preview show as being a tougher job for Liverpool to win than many were predicting. This was apparent after the brilliantly-executed first-time rocket shot by Marek Matejovsky put the Royals 1-0 up early on. Mascherano equalised with a similarly powerful shot, but as any player or coach in the world will tell you a first-time shot is much harder to execute correctly than a shot such as that by Mascherano who teed the shot up for himself before striking it.An even worse decision came when FSC decided to award the “Brilliant” Play to Arsenal’s scrappy equalising goal - a header by Kolo Toure that may have been an own goal - rather than to Middlesbrough’s genuinely quality goal: a quick counter-attack by Boro saw Tuncay’s brilliantly struck half-volley cross converted on the volley by Jeremie Aladiere. There can be no excuse for not giving this play to the Middlesbrough pair outside of corruption or complete incompetence.Viewers! Please keep monitoring the number of the so-called “Brilliant” plays awarded by FSC to the big teams. Feel aggrieved? Complain to Guinness or stop buying their beer. 

Wigan better than Milan!

I’ve never thought of Steve Bruce as a genius. It could well be that is not one, but the tactics he used against a cocky Arsenal team worked better than those employed by AC Milan’s Carlo Ancelotti. Or could it be that Wigan’s back line is better than that of Milan? Nesta, once considered the best defender in the world was brushed aside by Arsenal’s Emmanuel Adebayor as if he were a rag-doll. And Maldini was AWOL for Arsenal’s second goal, though let’s not take anything away from the great man who is probably the best left-back most people have ever seen.Back to Wigan though: Hleb was reigned in better by Wigan than he was by the Milan defenders, as was Adebayor and many of the London side’s players. The Sky commentators whinging about the state of the JJB Stadium pitch was a bit much. Surely the players have not forgotten their roots? Perhaps they have never played against Heage Miners’ Welfare ankle-deep in mud on a freezing cold, blustery Derbyshire day. It may be that players have been so mollycoddled with perfect playing conditions that they cannot cope with any adversity pitch-wise. Backpasses to goalkeepers should always be played outside the post-line so that “Robinson-in-Croatia” is an impossibility. Remember Beckham skying his penalty kick over the bar in Istanbul? The penalty spot was probably watered heavily pre-match so that that would happen; Beckham didn’t test the ground for the plant-foot adequately on that occasion. Van Persie should have kept his head down when in the inside left channel - he could have used that bobble to hammer the ball goalward had he been paying more attention.

New football blog: watchsoccer.

At last, a football blogsite with sensible ideas. The people writing for it seem to be very much in favor of introducing more technology to help referees, and not only “goal line technology” soi disant. This is something many fans agree with and many wonder why FIFA, the FA, and UEFA are dragging their heels over this. Is it pure conservatism, or are there darker reasons?

Check out the watchsoccer blog here: http://watchsoccer.blogspot.com

var addthis_pub = ‘4C2YJ86ND7LBKSQN’;

10 Nov 07. Liverpool v Fulham.

16 seconds into it Danny Murphy shoots. A minute later Kuqi takes a shot. 2′ 18″ Benitez is nervously looking at his watch. Peter Crouch holds the ball & lays it off perfectly. Hyppia shoots after Gerrard’s seemingly improvised free kick, Niemi saves. Murphy seems keen to do well against his old club. Crouch wins a corner. Riise’s miskick could portend further impatience with the player. Voronin’s inswinger to Hyppia’s head. Good movement by David Healy almost got him in behind the L’pool back line. Dempsey looks quick and confident on the ball; he seems to be playing a more withdrawn role. Murphy shoots - again on target. L’pool switch point of attack from right to left and this movement leads to Riise’s sliced but rasping shot. Crouch continues to make intelligent runs off the ball; he crosses the ball he wishes he could be on the other end of. Gerrard’s aerial pass to Crouch on the left post line shows promise, but Hughes makes a very good tackle. L’pool up the tempo and movement. Benayoun is stymied. Murphy breaks up the attack. After a third of the match has elapsed Fulham are holding on. Voronin is clearly offside, despite the commentator’s denying it. Fulham caught offside after good work on their left. In this first half, despite L’pool’s dominance of ball possession, there has been little for Niemi to do, and Reina has had to make more saves. 46th minute L’pool free kick to Crouch who hits the bar with GK Niemi more or less stationary.

Niemi makes a save after good work by Aurelio. Just after an hour is played, Benayoun attempts to chip Niemi. The introduction of Babbel has provided verve-swerve on the left of L’pool’s attack. 66′ Liverpool “dodge a bullet” (we wonder if that is possible) as sub Bouazza crosses from teh left after yet more fine work by Dempsey. A minute later Voronin fires wide left after quick feet by Benayoun. 68′ and we can’t help thinking it is a mistake as Dempsey, who has been keeping the L’pool defense busy all game, is substituted for Henri Camara by the dapper Lawrie Sanchez; as we like to say, “Don’t change a drawing team.” Then there is an interesting corner routine by L’pool: from the right the ball is driven aerially but with a flat trajectory diagonally across the field to a position outside the left corner of the Fulham penalty area; though the worked corner failed at lest it showed some invention. It could have been a variant of the Manchester United-style driven corner to the D (for Scholes to hit on the volley), or perhaps it was simply a miss-hit(?) . A Fulham foray ends with Reina banging the ball downfield to the chest of Torres, who turns with the ball on his right foot, switches to his left and surprisingly hits the ball low inside Niemi’s near post. Classy. 1-0 to L’pool. So ironically it is a long ball that turns the game, precisely the tactics used by Fulham all afternoon in their search to beat the Liverpool defense. Then, three minutes later, an incorrect refereeing decision gives L’pool a penalty. The foul clearly took place outside the penalty area, and should have resulted in a direct free kick to the home team. International Football Association Board! Where is the video evidence to help the referee make these close-call decisions? On our TV screens! Gerrard scores. 2-0.

The Premier League match commentators’ claim that as the foul started outside the penalty area, and continued inside it, means that a penalty had to awarded. What is this? A new modification to the laws of the game? Law 12 has it that “A direct free kick is taken from where the offence occurred.”

9 Nov 07 Fox Soccer Report.

Hereford Utd 0 Leeds 0. Looks like Hereford almost won this one, unlike our prediction yesterday.

We forgot to add that kudos should go to FSC for its coverage of Argentinian football. On Monday morning (early! or late!) they are showing Boca Juniors against Velez Sarsfield at 3am Eastern, midnight Pacific 12 Nov 07.

LA Galaxy’s new coach Ruud Gullit sees opportunity in the States. When asked why he would move to LA, he cleverly replied, “Why not?” Ruud might be harking back to the bar/discotheque called “Why not?” in the Dutch city of Haarlem in the 1970s. Bobby McMahon was surprised at Gullit’s sacking as manager of Chelsea by then-owner Ken Bates. Ruud’s move to Newcastle was not such a happy one, though.

Chicago Fire were predictably beaten 1-0 by New England Revolution in the Eastern Conference Championship, the goal scored by Twellman, the striker Bruce Arena should have taken to Germany for the 2006 World Cup.

FSR previewed the Man Utd - Blackburn Rovers game. Sir Alex Ferguson said, “Teams reflect their managers”. According to Bobby, Blackburn are “solid” and Blackburn have “built from the back” meaning they are defensively strong. I think the FSR team smell an upset at Olde Trafforde, but we at FSCWatch don’t.

Portsmouth have added strike power since the summer. There’s no denying that. Can Man City “pull out at Fratton?” [Royal Navy personnel who travel by train with their significant others will know the provenance of that untoward expression].

Chelsea v Everton. Petr Cech and Terry are both injured. Who fancies a bet on Everton to win at a somewhat generous 7/1 offered by certain British bookies? Cahill is back and Everton are returning from a morale-boosting away win in Germany. But this game is at Stamford Bridge.

Fox Soccer Report reports that Adriano is not happy at Inter, and who would be with their less-than-die-hard fans? In the past only 9,000 of them would turn up to support their team when they were not playing so well, and this in the cavernous 90,000 Stadio Giuseppe Meazza. According to Bobby, Inter haven’t lost to Lazio since 1998.

It looks like Totti will play for Roma against Cagliari at the weekend, but we are not told by the FSR team whether they think this will affect the result.

Liverpool must be still pinching themselves after their Champions League record-breaking 8-0 thrashing of Besiktas. I’m interested in Bobby McMahon’s take on the contribution of Peter Crouch, but he stays mute on the subject. Bobby doesn’t like Peter.

Rooney’s out for four weeks due to injury. This will be of some concern to Manchester United, but of more concern to the boss of the England national team, Steve McClaren.

Fox Soccer Report: 8 Nov 07

src=”http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js”>

ACF Fiorentina 6 Elfsborg 1. Yes, the Viola are really the real deal - great finishing! Wow! Donadel’s rocket-goal! And FSR didn’t place a graphic over it - yay!

Spartak Moscow 2 Bayer Leverkusen 1. Spartak’s second goal was scored by Mozart, and I’m a bit surprised that the FSR team didn’t make more of a meal out of the player’s name.

Hapoel Tel Aviv 0 Tottenham Hotspur 2. Keane’s volley. There was no mention on the Report, unlike in certain British tabloids, of Berbatov’s sour face after he had scored the second goal for the team whose manager doesn’t want him. I wouldn’t worry if I were Berbatov; many teams in the world would take such a quality player in an instant.

Bayern München 2 Bolton Wanderers 2. Who da thought?

Another Barclay’s Premier League team had a good result, too: Nürnberg 0 Everton 2.

Kudos to Fox Soccer Channel for the upcoming games this weekend - an interesting selection if you like the Premiership or Italian Serie A. Just for fun let’s predict the score for the games being shown on FSC Friday 9th to Sunday 11th November:

Hereford Utd 1 Leeds Utd 4.

Manchester Utd 4 Blackburn 0.

Liverpool 3 Fulham 0.

Tottenham 1 Wigan 0.

Portsmouth 2 Manchester City 2.

Sampdoria 0 Empoli 0.

Palermo 1 Napoli 1.

Inter 2 Lazio 0.

AS Roma 2 Cagliari 1.

And in the big West of England FA Cup 1st round clash, let’s go with Torquay United 1 Yeovil Town 2.

What other news? Ah yes, Ruud Gullit’s becoming the new LA Galaxy coach. We wish he were still playing. By the way he used to have his own reggae band - betcha didn’t know that!

We have to take issue with Max Bretos. He gleefully suggested that because an assistant referee made the right call concerning a ball crossing the line in last week’s 2-2 tie between Arsenal and Manchester United at the Emirates Stadium, it rebuffed those calling for goal line technological aids to help referees in their decisions. “What a load of cobblers!” as they may or may not say in Northampton. So if the ref had made a mistake, then Max’d be calling for the tech? It didn’t sound like it. In any case, many of the contentious decisions in football are centered on penalty kick calls, not only whether the ball has crossed the goal line. The time has come for replays to be allowed in order to help the referees at any stage of each game. How absurd is it that on the big screen replay at the stadium we the spectators can see (say) the obvious dive or the clear foul, but the referee must be artificially handicapped in not being allowed to use this in his or her decision making? Not all games have the televised replay capability it is true, but that capability should be made a requirement of club and national teams whose matches take place in the world’s major leagues and competitions.

Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com

The Fox Soccer Report, thus far.

Could someone out there please keep count of the number of times we hear the expression “thus far.” Is it a Canadian thing?

We learn from the program that Preki was voted MLS Coach of the Year. Toronto FC’s Edu is Rookie of the Year. Congrats to them from all of us here at FSCW HQ.

Remember the Fifth of November: Fox Soccer Report.

All three commentators are wearing World War I poppies in their lapels, but Bobby McMahon’s is the flashiest.

Arsenal 2 Manchester United 2. Giggs and Ronaldo gave United “a bit of width,” said Bobby. Also, Hargreaves found himself the wrong side of Gallas and didn’t have the speed to catch him. Hargreaves was “at fault for the last goal.” No-one escapes Bobby’s critique, not even the Exalted One, Sir Alex Ferguson. Bobby: “I had no idea what he was talking about in his post-match comments.”

Wigan 0 Chelsea 2. Wigan axe manager Hutchings. No-one is surprised, including Bobby, including us here at FSCW HQ. The images of Belletti’s goal, starting as it did with a run with the ball from his own half, shows a Wigan midfielder seemingly allowing Belletti to head straight to goal by running away from the ball. “After you, Claude!” quips Bobby. Does anyone know the origin of this phrase? Who is Claude? It can’t be the Zairean defensive midfielder Claude Makelele. Is it from an Evelyn Waugh book? We heard the same phrase used in a Serie A game recently, too.

Blackburn 0 Liverpool 0. We can’t agree with Bobby on the subject of Peter Crouch. We feel his checking and lay-offs are very good at bringing the midfield forward in the game, especially when he is not played as the lone striker. He contributes to ball movement three-dimensionally (distribution on the ground + aerial ability), so Liverpool gain mobility with his presence, as opposed to the contrary as suggested by McMahon.

Commentator Mitch Peacock slips up when he says Barnsley were playing in a Championship game against “lowly Liverpool” - he should’ve said “Blackpool.” Can’t blame him; it’s a high-stress job. One of Blackpool’s players, Michael Jackson, is called the “King of Pop” by Fox Soccer Report. Other comments on the player’s name include, “He was not healing the World at all with that challenge.” He was red-carded. Barnsley 2 Blackpool 1.

Hibs 1 Hearts 1. The Edinburgh derby was, apparently, an entertaining end-to-end affair. Seems like there was some tactical discord between the Hearts management and their workforce (the players) in the first half. Are the troubles continuing at the most troubled club in living memory?

New England Revolution 1 New York Red Bulls 0. The expected result came to pass through a scrappy Taylor Twellman goal, who got his revenge for being left off the 2006 World Cup roster by then Team USA coach Bruce Arena despite being the league’s leading striker that season. It is almost sacrilegious to criticize Arena in the United States, but his performance at that World Cup was very poor: he played lefty Damarcud Beasley on the right wing -clearly out of position- and then lambasted him for not playing well. This is the same speedster Beasley that did so well in 2002 in South Korea on the left, feeding McBride with plenty of ammo. Anyhoo, Arena has resigned his post as boss of New York. Is he eyeing the glitzy LA Galaxy job (Beckham and all) just as Frank Yallop resigns from that post to return to his former club San Jose? Marc De Grandpre, Managing Director of New York, intimated that the club wasn’t in a hurry to find a replacement for Arena.

Juventus 1 Internazionale di Milano 1. Figo got his leg broken for him. Judging by the highlights, it didn’t appear Juventus had paid the referee to swing the game in their favor.

Nils Liedholm of Sweden, Milan, Varese, and other clubs has died, age 85.