Can anybody stop Wayne Rooney?
We will find out today in the weekend's marquee match, with Manchester United visiting Arsenal at the Emirates. The winner of today's match will close the gap on first-place Chelsea while the loser will be at least four points back.
While Arsenal-Man Utd is the high-profile match of the day, the most important match of the day takes place in Angola, where Egypt faces Ghana in the African Cup of Nations Final. The match isn't on TV, but you shouldn't have trouble finding a feed for it on the internet.
If you will be watching any of today's action, please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.
Enjoy the action (Today's soccer TV schedule is after the jump):
TODAY'S SOCCER ON TV
6:30am- ESPN360.com- Feyenoord vs. Ajax
8:15am- Setanta USA- Manchester City vs. Portsmouth
8:30am- ESPN360.com- Vitesse Arnhem vs. PSV Eindhoven
9am- FSC/FSE- AC Milan vs. Livorno
9am- ESPN360.com- Parma vs. Inter Milan
10:45am- No TV- Ghana vs. Egypt (African Cup of Nations Final)
10:55am- FSC/FSE- Arsenal vs. Manchester United
11am- ESPN Deportes/ESPN360.com- Getafe vs. Racing Santander
11am- DirecTV- Tenerife vs. Real Zaragoza
11am- DirecTV- Villarreal vs. Osasuna
11am- DirecTV- Xerez vs. Mallorca
11am- Setanta USA- Auxerre vs. St. Etienne
11:30am- GolTV- Bayer Leverkusen vs. SC Freiburg
1pm- ESPN Deportes/ESPN360.com- Atletico Madrid vs. Malaga
1pm- Telemundo- UNAM Pumas vs. CD Toluca
1pm- Azteca America- Puebla vs. Queretaro FC
2pm- GolTV- Corinthians vs. Palmeiras
2:30pm- FSC/FSE- Juventus vs. Lazio
3pm- GolTV- Sevilla vs. Valencia
3pm- Setanta USA- Lyon vs. Paris St. Germain
5pm- Univision- Club America vs. Indios
5pm- Telefutura- Santos Laguna vs. Atlas
10pm- Setanta USA- Arsenal vs. Manchester United (Delayed)
11pm- FSC- Arsenal vs. Manchester United (Delayed)
——————-
hope Eddie gets a goal and Freddy gets his debut!
Got this off of the daily mirror:
EVERTON are set to sign Landon Donovan on a permanent deal when the American striker’s short-term loan spell finishes this summer.
Donovan, who will lead the USA attack against England in the World Cup, netted his first goal for the Toffees in their 2-0 win over Sunderland in midweek.
Goodison Park boss David Moyes is confident a bid of £3million will sway LA Galaxy to sell the 27-year-old.
Donovan, the all-time Major League Soccer leading scorer, could replace Louis Saha, who is out of contract in the summer.
Galaxy will fight hard to avoid losing another one of their stars to Europe – following David Beckham’s second loan move to AC Milan – but Donovan is understood to want to remain in England.
“Landon has done brilliantly since coming over here and he’s really enjoying himself,” said a source close to the player.
“There is a big chance he will stay here permanently but it would have to be sorted after the World Cup.
“He’s clearly fitted in well and the manager has been impressed with him so let’s see.”
Sorry, It’s off of news of the world not the daily mirror
Adu makes his debut for Aris in the 64th minute
Team down 2-0
I saw the first goal … Aris just had terrible defending. A cross came in from the right and the guy had all day to do what he wanted with it …
Good for Freddy. I’m one of his biggest critics, only because I want him to succeed and he’s a local boy. I’m happy he’s finally back on the pitch.
Hell Yeah
Goal Johnson, assist Freddy Adu !!!!
HAHAHAHAHA….Freddy and Eddie combine for one strange looking goal. Freddy was given some time with the ball and sends a pretty decent pass to Eddie. All the Xanthi players seem to just watch it float over them. Eddie was clearly onside….his first touch a bad one…but megs the keeper. He runs around and scores. Good job guys….but it just looked surreal at full speed.
As I am typing this…Freddy missed an easy chance to tie the game in injury time.
DC Josh, you’re from Ghana? Best of luck today!
Freddy Adu had a chance to tie the game but his cross(maybe shot) was inches away from being put in by his teammate
Adu to Johnson goal
link to i45.tinypic.com
Any streams of Man Utd-Arsenal?
okay, that is something i never thought i’d see
adu has it… ball to johnson…. the american takes it….. GOALLLLLLLLLLL
Ok, fair enough. But you SAW it in the Greek League.
They’re dreaming if they think 3 million pounds would be enough. They could triple that amount and it still might not be enough.
No way MLS does it for that money
How did Eddie and Freddy play overall?
It does look extremely comical in slow motion. But good to see them both on the pitch and contributing.
The Greek league is really on par wiht the Duthc, Danish and Belgian leagues at this moment in time…nothing wrong with being excited that they both did something positive.
Here is Freddy’s missed chance:
link to i50.tinypic.com
What do you guys think? Was it Freddy’s intention to pass the ball?
This is really unbelievable to me. First time they’re both on the field together.
ps. If these two are in form, they have a good chance to go third or fourth string WC. Again, the competition is Casey (lazy caveman), Findley (who simply doesn’t have a touch at the international level) Cunningham (old, doesn’t partner well).
Casey or Cooper will take one spot, but Davies is recovering, and the other two just haven’t been eye opening (minus one gifted goal to Cunninham).
Good news. If it isn’t received as such, ridiculous.
it makes me smile a bit inside to know that karma exists… now i just want to know what either of them possibly did to deserve such a strange situation
on the injury-time miss, I think Adu would have been blamed for being selfish had he tried to go straight on goal — keeper had near post covered, defender was right on him and there were teammates in the middle. Sure, he put too much on it, and it may have been better to just put it into the mixer and force Xanthi to clear. But he did well to deal with the weird hop on the water-logged field and still get it across the face of goal, where his teammate at far post came closest to nicking it in.
I believe it was a header by EJ that got the ball to him in the first place. In the process, EJ was knocked down by a classic Greek league kung fu defender, who seemed to make no effort to get to the ball. EJ could not get up in time to get in position to knock that cross in. Too bad, but the boys made things happen.
When did EJ come into the game and what was the score at that point? I know Adu came on when it was already 0-2.
yeah, not bad but freddy WAS going for goal, far post.. no doubt. Great to have them both playing, and contributing to the mix
so glad to see Adu and EJ back on the field and playing well.
The newspaper Athlitika Nea says Freddy missed a great opportunity to tie when “he got the ball in the penalty area but could not put the shot on target.” After the game, the coach Cuper was asked about the substitutes and he replied that they have not played much yet still provided a “freshness” to the team that needed it due to the heavy load of games recently. Without mentioning them by name, he said the subs showed that there are other “good choices” that can give a breather to those who play all the time. So it sounds to me as if he still views Adu and Johnson as subs at this point. Cuper added that the club may acquire one or two more players on Monday …
I think you can kind of tell by Freddy’s reaction that he’s going far post, but definitely not a bad idea. You can’t really be blamed when your brought in to bolster a team’s offense and you’re taking shots.
Good to see both Freddy and Eddie getting assists and goals. The funny thing is that even though they get the most criticism of just about any American, if they were both at least half way in form, they’d still be good enough to start or atleast appear off the bench.
You got it!
3 million pounds = ~$5 million. No way. I’d say maybe 8 million pounds. That’s half the price that Arsenal paid for Arshavin, for example – a somewhat comparable player (size, age, position, international experience, etc. – difference obviously is Arshavin’s Euro expereince, and I’d add that Arshavin is probably a little bit better player than Landy).
Youtube video of Johnson’s goal
link to youtube.com
not the response you should hear from a coach about two players who came on and single handedly almost brought the team back into the game
absolutely a pass, and the right play too, goalie’s at near post put it into the scrum at the back
This ManU-Arsenal game is quite good – open, end-to-end action.
Nani just puts on some beautiful moves to score – Arsenal 0 – 1 ManU
(Edit – goes down as an own goal by Almunia, but really Nani should get credit)
just watched the video… that field is nasty
How is Almunia still the starting keeper for Arsenal? Everytime I watch him play I just shake my head. Awful
nice goal by rooney
Denilson should be ashamed of himself jogging back towards goal while Roomey was sprinting toward goal.
Wow, classic counter attack by ManU to make it 2-0.
Arsenal has really been the somewhat better side so far, I think but ManU have finished their chances.
It was a shot (you can tell by how hard he swung his leg), but it wasn’t that great of an opportunity. He had no angle on the goal. Would have been better to cut back to the inside and try with his right foot. Still don’t think he should take the blame for that one.
ManU’s second goal seems to have taken the wind out of Arsenal’s sails.
For anyone who was able to catch the Aris game, where did you find a stream just for my own future reference? I’ve been looking forward to seeing EJ and Adu the last couple weeks but my usual sites have let me down.
p_2_p_4_u_._n_e_t (without the spaces)
I would also like to know where people are watching the Aris games.
Manchester United have had more chances(5) and more possession(58%) and have looked great. I’ve never thought of Rooney as a target forward, but when your team is possessing as well as United are, you don’t need a target, just someone who can finishes chances, which is exactly what Rooney has been doing all season as he notches his 20 on the campaign, and 100th for United.
this game was on Greek satellite TV, available thru Dish Network. Announcer said “American help” allowed Aris to cut the deficit. He praised the “excellent pass” from Adu and said EJ was “a little lucky” to get the ball past the Xanthi keeper and score his first Greek league goal.
That Adu to Johnson was kinda funny but that Nani goal was just amazing.
OH please. Im not buying your post
That was a World Class pass from Adu. Lets not downgrade it.
His last-minute chance was not easy. He had a defender in his face and was at a bad angle. Looked more a quick cross considering his teammate was an inch-away from knocking it in.
We are going to see alot of back-tracking/ downgrading when it comes to Adu in the next 3 months….LOL.
What happened to the Arsenal defense on that J.S Park goal?
I hope Ghana wins. 0-0 so far. Boring game.
bad start for the gooners
It was a gifted goal, but it was still a nice shot near post, between the keeper who was closing down and still treaded the needle. Watch it, you’ll see.
I mean Toumba says a strange goal? Sign of a critic whos trying to cover-up a possible Adu re-surgence so he dosent have to eat crow. Nothing strange about that goal. Adu cuts in, lays off a pefrect 30-yard pass with the outside of his foot on a nice EJ run. Also Adu had some moments where he did something on the dribble. Like when he beat 2 players in the corner with a nutmeg and drew a foul.
Arsenal needs an American.
I would start with Tim Howard.
Um, anybody know if Ricardo Clark dressed or got to play or is even eligible to dress yet?
That adu pass was pure class. Eddy’s goal was lucky but you take what you get. Josy needs some of that luck. for the sake of the MNT, hope these two guys can put a good run together. they both have so much more upside than most of our other choices.
threaded*
No one venturing into the box on attack….hopeless crosses that only find the defenders’ heads…slow, slow, slow.
I’m ‘fraid I can’t see African teams doing much at the WC. Unless of course the qualified teams didn’t give a darn about the ACN….
Adu & Johnson had a great game!I’m very proud. I said it in the past and I will say it again, I rather have a 50% ADU than a 110% Casey,Finley,Cunning,Rogers,Sasha, on our USNMT W.C roster. Adu hasn’t seen the pitch lately, yet he out shines the rest of the bums I just mention above who have had 100 times the playing time than that of ADU!lol
don’t know if he is eligible or not yet, but he did not dress
Praise be Allah — Egypt has scored! Seriously though — it was a really nice shot.
Easy buddy….don’t accuse me of hate when there was none. I watched the entire match here in Greece. It was a strange goal. Not one of the Xanthi defenders seemed to react at all to Eddie’s run…Freddie lobbed in a pass…(which I called decent in the OP)…and Eddie’s first touch was bad control that happened to nutmeg the goalie. It was a goal that looked as if Xanthi fell asleep for a moment. If you had seen the entire game you might understand how out of place the play looked.
And lets not call one pass a “re-surgence”…Don’t you have to be on top at one point in time to experience a resurgence anyway? “World Class pass”????….my you are easy to impress. If that was a world class pass then what was the pass on Xanthi’s 2nd goal?..SUPER DUPER GALACTIC SPACE PASS?
Of the two players Eddie looked dangerous and beat a defender in the corner on one play…forced another to foul him…and then scored a goal. Freddie was able to come it and get some minutes….he turned it over a few times, wasted a free kick from a dangerous position…made a good pass to Eddie for the goal….then missed a chance he needs to finish at the end. Don’t let my facts get in the way of your argument.
hmm
I call bluff. You must have been watching another game.
cherundolo out for a month.
Was some guy running around on the sideline kissing the Koran like in the previous game?
“I mean Toumba says a strange goal? Sign of a critic whos trying to cover-up a possible Adu re-surgence so he dosent have to eat crow. Nothing strange about that goal. Adu cuts in, lays off a pefrect 30-yard pass with the outside of his foot on a nice EJ run. Also Adu had some moments where he did something on the dribble. Like when he beat 2 players in the corner with a nutmeg and drew a foul.”
Mate, you can’t tell someone to eat crow after one match, even if he was the best player on the pitch for the winning team. Do you look at every touch adu has made on a ball since he started as a footballer. Mate, you’re obsessed. I hear Mariah Carey singing now…
Anyway, there is no Adu conspiracy or any crap like that. If the lad plays this well week in and week out, he’ll merit a call up. If not, he’ll stay out.
In a normal off-season, I’d agree that $8MM isn’t enough.
However, with the expiration of the CBA, can’t LD do whatever he damn well pleases?
He’s already a star in that league among the fans, imagine if he stays a while.
What a pathetic performance from Arsenal. I can’t believe I had a little hope Arsenal would pull a little miracle and win the title. We’re going trophyless once again. Alumnia and Denilson doesn’t belong anywhere near this team. Arshavin needs to do better and goodbye Cesc in the summer. Wenger needs to spend and buy already proven world class player and not a teenager that’s going to be good in 5 years. We can pay off the debt for the stadium by with the money we get from winning trophies.
Good luck to US vs England. I can only see one winner when a fit, in form Rooney is running at our back 4.
“I mean Toumba says a strange goal? Sign of a critic whos trying to cover-up a possible Adu re-surgence so he dosent have to eat crow. Nothing strange about that goal. Adu cuts in, lays off a pefrect 30-yard pass with the outside of his foot on a nice EJ run. Also Adu had some moments where he did something on the dribble. Like when he beat 2 players in the corner with a nutmeg and drew a foul.”
Mate, you can’t tell someone to eat crow after one match, even if he was the best player on the pitch for the winning team. Do you look at every touch adu has made on a ball since he started as a footballer. Mate, you’re obsessed. I hear Mariah Carey singing now…
Anyway, there is no Adu conspiracy or any crap like that. If the lad plays this well week in and week out, he’ll merit a call up. If not, he’ll stay out.
I think this probally why Bradley wants Adu on the roster. The fact that in 1/10 the minutes Adu gets than the others you mentioned……he is 10x better on the field than the others. But bradley wantes Adu playing..so we can only hope that this is a start of something good for Adu.
That sucks. Need all the depth we can get at the back.
Sagna, Denilson, and Almunia should be gone from Arsenal
So what am I lying about?
This is pretty much where I’m at right now too. I’m a die-hard Arsenal supporter and right now I’m just empty.
Same old Arsenal, all bark, no bite. They can pass you off the pitch, but when it comes to finishing, lord are they terrible. Almunia is garbage, he needs to join a band or a trendy environmentalist group…not be Arsenal’s keeper (although I do dig his hair).
Arshavin had an off-game, no way around it. He was abusing Wes Brown in the beginning and just couldn’t pick out the right pass or get his shots on target. If he converts any of his early chances and puts Arsenal up 1-0, the game would have been drastically different.
Keep Gallas, Vermaalen (stud), Song, Cesc (hopefully), van Persie, Arshavin, Clichy,Rosicky and Bendtner…the rest need to go. Eboue / Almunia / Diaby are tied for the most useless players in EPL.
It was a pretty nice pass from Adu but let’s see if he can do it consistently. Same with EJ. He did well to control the ball and find the net, but this is in the 90+ minute. At this point the back line is tired. It’s easier to get goals like that at the end of the game against a tired opponent who’s up by 2.
and to think Inter is rumored to be interested in Sagna. Maybe they desire a RB who can’t defend and can’t cross accurately.
Ok stop right there. Its the point where most people who are objective thinks that was a world-class type pass…and sure you can have opinions…but you can read through obvious posts. Thats funny i never ever rarley mention Adu. So im obsessed now, i guess
It looks like another hinted bashers vs “obsessed” fanboys argument brewing like we see with other players. So I am going to get out of this before it starts.
So Jozy, Eddie, and Freddy did all right this w/e eh?
LD is tearing it up at Everton.
Guzan is a solid back up to Howard.
Clint is getting a rest to go along with his rehab.
If we can just shore up the back line before SA, I’ll gladly take it.
Compeltely agree with Denilson and Alumnia but Sagna? I know he can’t cross but he’s the 2nd best right back in the world!!
(SBI-He wouldn’t be the second-best right back for Brazil, let alone the world.)
The thing with Arshavin is that he’s not the player thats influential the whole game the way Fabregas is. Arshavin is actually really lazy and makes a lot of bad passes. It’s just that he’s capable of one moment of magic that wins the game for us even if he’s doing f all the whole game. We also have no plan B. Playing 3 mids as our front 3 is not going to work all the time.
I would also keep Sagna, Gibbs, Nasri, and Eboue. I love Walcott and Vela but they are so overrated.
Yezzir……Eddie with the goal and Adu with the assist!!!
90 minutes for daniel williams for frieburg in the bundesliga. ives, franco, avi, travis, do any of you know anything about this kid? I have to think he warrants at least some mention.
you’ve got to be kidding. arshavin is anything but lazy. he was arsenal’s most dangerous player on the day by miles and was the only attacking player who seemed to be on the same page as cesc. nasri and rosicky both offered very little in terms of any incision in the final third.
overall a clumsy performance from arsenal. not sure vermaelen should have been out there. when fit, he’s obviously miles ahead of silvestre and campbell but he allowed rooney to run right past him for united’s second, which effectively ended the game.
Are you crazy. Sagna’s defending has been suspect. Not even close. Against CHelsea in the first game at theEmirates, he gave Ashley Cole way too much space and that killed Arsenal.
Wow, are there like five people at that game or what?
Why would you keep Eboue? He refuses to pass the ball and turns it over more than anyone. Plus he has a nasty propensity to get red cards in important games (as in ANC this year and against tottenham last campaign). Walcott is only being kept because he is English and Arsenal drastically lack Englishmen. I don’t know what happened to him but he is a shadow of his former self and he’s made of glass.
Has he picked which national team he intends to play for? He’s German and American from what I can find online.
Being dangerous does not make you not lazy. Agree on Nasri and Rosicky. They cannot play as the wide players in teh front 3. Denilson let Rooney go, not Vermaelen.
Outside of Sagna, Eboue is the only player that can play right back. If he is not there, we have to rely on Eastmond or Coqulin as cover. I don’t want to see him anywhere else beside right back, but he is not bad there. He’s also good to have in the locker room.
I disagree Ives. Depends on the opponent but I would probably start Sagna over Alves.
You gave me one example. I cannot think of a right back as consistant as him defending wise. Alves is even worse in the back.
I don’t know, there’s something about representing your continent against the rest of the world that’s going to bring out some serious indignation in South Africa
jig is right ives please investigate about daniel williams of SC Freiburg. All i know is that he is a midfielder and has worked his way up from the club’s second squad or reserve squad
In other news, Steve Cherundolo is out for four weeks with a shoulder injury…
link to msn.foxsports.com
and is 20 years old
The EPL season is seriously unwatchable.
They finally get a game that means something and it is a snoozer.
The team that has won it 11 out of 17 times, handing it to another “successful” team.
I realize as an American, I should know my place and root for Bolten not to get relegated. I tried to watch something that mattered, as it only comes along once a moon.
from what I saw, arshavin was the only one making any sort of penetrating runs. obviously he was leading the line, that is his job, but each time arsenal were in possession he was always active and looking for the ball. whenever he was dispossessed, i felt he did an admirable job trying to win it back immediately.
That leads me to another problem with arsenal today. They didnt defend together, especially when united were in possession in their own half. It seemed like the closest man to the ball would apply strong pressure, but then if he were not able to win it, the rest of the players were not doing enough to cut out the passing options for the united player who had the ball.