Sunday, October 20, 2013

Bedoya nets winner for Nantes as a late substitute

Ale Bedoya managed to bag the winner for Nantes yesterday, shortly after he entered the game. Watch the video below and see him score with a good far post run; (goal sequence starts at 5:15)

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

An incredible finish for CONCACAF

The last day Hex drama is a big hit for CONCACAF as the USA, Costa Rica, and Honduras have booked their spots in Brazil for the 2014 World Cup. Graham Zusi and Aron Johannsson netted late goals that might as well have been machetes into the throats of Panamanians, thus sending Mexico to a playoff with New Zealand. Twitter was quivering over the results, here are a few of my favorites;




goals;



Sunday, October 13, 2013

Part 1: Salt Lake Lineup Decisions; Who should start at forward for the playoff run?

Real Salt Lake has spent this season cycling through 5 different players at the forward position. Each player has had good moments and each player has drifted into obscurity for extended time periods. This article is an attempt to identify the most productive striker pair that Real Salt Lake can deploy heading into the playoffs. 


The Players:

Olmes Garcia - Fast, physical, and a constant nuisance to opposing defenses, Olmes stole the hearts of Salt Lake City fans early in the season with a fantastic finish in Vancouver and a dominating substitute performance against the LA Galaxy. 
Garcia pays tribute to a friend
Garcia has an impressive 5 goals and 4 assists in under 1,000 minutes of league play. He has not found the net, however, since July 13th in a 3 - nil win at Dallas and he is yet to score a goal in a game in which he starts. It seems clear that Garcia helps his team the most as a 2nd half substitute. For now. Expect to see this guy earn a consistent starting role in the next 2 years but he's just not there yet.


Devon Sandoval - Sandoval is another exciting, young striker on the Salt Lake roster and he has scored some clutch goals for the club in his rookie campaign. Sandoval was crucial in the team's Open Cup run and has chipped in 3 league goals. Devon, as oppose to Garcia, has relished the starting role, with all 3 league goals coming in matches where he started.
Bruiser
Sandoval is still learning what Jason Kreis expects from his players and although the work rate is there, Sandoval still has a ways to go before his tactical awareness and participation in build up play are where they need to be. Look for him to be a factor late in games when coming off the bench. The possible exception being if Saborio runs cold but I have a tough time seeing Kreis bench him as long as he is healthy.  

To be continued....



Monday, October 7, 2013

Everton v Manchester City Recap

In Early Saturday action; (This was going to be a more thorough post recapping the weekends soccer but I got busy, so it's been reduced to this...)


  • Romelu Lukaku scored an early goal (16'), giving him, at the time, 4 goals in 151 Premier League minutes in an Everton shirt. Lukaku finished the game on 4 goals in 232 minutes. 



hgf by 21cad

  • Manchester City struck back immediately with a goal from Negredo. City kept the pressure on, culminating in a 45' strike from Aguero into the far side of the net. Aguero managed to find the far corner from a tight angle and just blasted past Tim Howard's feet. 
  • City continued to dictate the game but Everton were unlucky to give up a soft penalty for a foul on Zabaleta in the 69th minute. The misfortune continued as Tim Howard guessed the direction of Aguero's shot and reached his hand to the ball, only to have the ball bounce of the inside of the post, into Howard's head, and then backwards into the goal.

31 by 21cad

FULHAM - STOKE;