Weekend Roundup

With the Vancouver Whitecaps' season officially over, this weekend's soccer was slightly less exciting.  However, there were still two games that I watched.  The first game was Manchester United against Arsenal.  This game had a lot of promise as it was Robin Van Persie's first game back against the Gunners since leaving during the summer transfer window.  To the surprise of absolutely no one, Van Persie made his old team pay only 3 minutes into the game with a goal.  The rest of the game was wildly uneventful, resulting in a 2-1 Manchester United win.

The other game I watched this weekend was Barcelona vs Celta.  It was an relatively routine 3-1 win for Barcelona, keeping their undefeated season alive, making this their most successful ever start to a season.  A couple of interesting notes though.  This was Messi's first game since the birth of his son Thiago Messi.  You could tell he really wanted that first goal to dedicate to his son, but it never came about. His frustration was clearly shown after getting checked by a Celta defender, he lightly punched him in the back, leading to a scrum.  It is good to see Messi so fiery this year.

Two exciting games coming up in the coming week.
Tuesday: Borussia Dortmund vs. Real Madrid - Can Dortmund prove that their previous Madrid victory wasn't just a fluke.
Wednesday: Barcelona vs. Celtic - Will Celtic return with their all our defending style, effectively playing soccer's version of the trap?

White Caps Season

The Vancouver Whitecaps 2011-2012 season is now over, after losing 2-1 to the LA Galaxy in a one game elimination match.  Was the season a success? Certainly not an overwhelming success, but it also wasn't a disappointment.  They finished first amongst Canadian teams and are the first Canadian team to make the playoffs. They made the playoffs in only their second season.  They got solid performance from rookie Darren Mattocks.  Now for the negatives.  Heading into July, the White Caps were a respectable 7 wins, 5 ties and 5 losses.  Then it all went downhill, winning only 4 games in the final 4 months of the season.  The streak coincided with a large turnover of players.  They lost Davide Chiumento to Zurich, Hassli to Toronto FC, traded Sebastian Le Toux to NYC for Dane Richards, and brought in Barry Robson, Kenny Miller, and Andy O'Brien.  On paper, the refreshed White Caps looked much stronger, but never appeared.  It's hard to explain what happened in the final half of the season, but no one can be happy about it.  It will be interesting to see who the White Caps bring in during the offseason with the departure of Dane Richards, the possible retirement of YP Lee, among other chances I'm sure.

Referee Debate

The game of the weekend was an easy one to choose, but apparently a difficult one to ref.  EPL's top team Chelsea took on Manchester United (T2) in the most anticipated game early in the EPL season.  The game was a thriller, at least until the official decide to turn the game around.  Manchester United game out flying, scoring two early goals.  It looked as though the game may end up 5-0 for Man Utd.  Chelsea brought the game back by scoring two goals of their own, tying up the game.  The first controversial call came when Man Utd's Valencia was on a break and taken down by Chelsea's Ivanovic.  Though it looks like their legs become slightly tangled as Valencia went to ground, the rule is clear: If you player takes out their man on a breakaway, it is an instant red. This left Chelsea down a man.  Only a few minutes later, with Chelsea's Torres, on a partial break, was taken by a Manchester United player.  It looks as though as thought it was going to be a Chelsea free kick within range, but instead Torres received his second yellow for diving, resulting in a red card.  Two men down, Chelsea didn't stand much change, except to try to keep the game tie at 2-2.  Another blunder by the officials would ruin Chelsea's chance at that.  Man Utd's Javier Hernandez scored a goal, putting Man Utd up 3-2, from a clearly offside position.  It is unfortunate that the ref decided to call the game the way he did and ruin one of the most exciting games of the season.

UEFA Champions League

FC Barcelona came awfully close to letting 2 points slip to Celtic in today's UEFA Champions League match, a match that resembled last year's semi-finals draw against Chelsea a little too closely.  Barcelona absolutely dominated possession for most of the game, but couldn't put a ball in the net (Possession was 76% to 24%). With the game tied at 1-1, Barcelona stuck to their guns, passing the ball and hovering just outside of Celtic's 18-yard box without being able to get too close to goal.  This was due in large part to some stellar defending by Celtic.  It can be argued - and Barcelona will do it adamantly - that they should have had the lead far earlier in the game, but wasn't the case.  It wasn't until the 94th minute that Jordi Alba was finally able to get the ball past Celtic's Foster.  

Tomorrow's game of the day is definitely the Borussia Dortmund v. Real Madrid.  Two fast counter-attacking teams with a ton of skill. It is bound to be a great match. 

Playoff Bound!

I was fortunate enough to get tickets to tonight's White Caps match (4th row at center!) against the Portland Timbers before knowing the game would mean anything.  The game failed to deliver on all fronts.  It was simple, win the game to clinch a playoff birth.   The White Caps came out flat and lost the game in a low-action 1-0 affair.  This gave the Portland Timbers their first road win of the season and the Cascadia cup (given to the team with the most points out of Seattle, Portland, Vancouver).  However, the White Cap's fortune turned around later in the evening thanks to a 3-1 Seattle victory over FC Dallas.  This loss officially eliminated FC Dallas from the playoffs, making the White Caps the first Canadian team to make the playoffs in MLS history.  This isn't such a big feat since this is Montreal's first season and Toronto being Toronto, suck.  This is obviously not the White Caps would have envisioned themselves making the playoffs, but sometimes you just have to accept the luck you were given.  They have not played well since around the middle of July, and probably did not deserve to even make the playoffs, but all of that is moot, because they are in now.  They have a clean slate and can hopefully turn that into a long playoff run.  It won't be easy, obviously, with their first coming challenge coming on November 1st with a one and out game against David Beckham and the LA Galaxy, a team they have never beat, in LA.  So with that, let's hope for some more luck to come the White Cap's direction!

Saturday Soccer: FC Barcelona vs. Deportivo La Coruna

After tying Real Madrid in their last game, Barcelona was looking to keep up their 8 point lead.  Barcelona broke the game open quickly, coming out to a 3-0 lead after the 17th minute.  They received goals from Jordi Alba, Messi and Tello. Deportivo started their comeback with a penalty kick goal which shouldn't have been called - it was a foul, but it was outside of the box.  By half time, Deportivo brought the score back up to 3-2, before Messi made it 4-2 at half time.  Only 2 minutes into the second half, Deportivo's Pizzi scored a beautiful free kick just a few yards outside the box to make it 4-3. Shortly after, Barcelona's Mascherano received his second yellow for hitting Deportivo's Ricky with an inadvertent shoulder.  With a completely make shift back line (Puyol, Pique, Alves, Mascherano all out), Barcelona was forced to try to run the clock out, playing conservatively until Messi, completing his hat trick, gave Barcelona some breathing room with a 5-3 advantage. Barcelona's joy didn't last long.  Two minutes after Messi's goal, it was Jordi Alba with an own goal to bring Deportivo right back into the game.  Luckily, Barcelona was able to hold on to secure the win and keep their 8 point lead over Real Madrid.

Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi is arguably the best player in soccer, even of all time.  Every year, Messi seems to set record after record at the club level.  Last year, he set the record for most goals in a La Liga campaign, most goals in a season across all competitions, and became the first player to score 5 goals in a Champions League match.  He finishes last year with the more goals and the more assists than any other player across all competitions.

One area that Lionel Messi has lacked is in his play with his home country of Argentina.  Compared to his 0.8 goals/game ratio with FC Barcelona, he has only scored at a pace of 0.4 goals/game with Argentina.  This is the last area where Messi needs to show his dominance in order to be among the best players ever in the game.  This may soon be coming to fruition.  In his international play in 2012, Messi has scored 11 goals in 7 games played, an impressive feat.  However, some of these goals have been scored against some underwhelming countries.  We will see how he holds up in the upcoming 2014 World Cup.