Review of FC Dallas v Real Salt Lake (From an FCD perspective)

So I know I'm a few days late on this but hey...no ones perfect.

As an FC Dallas fan I'm not sure how to feel about the performance of my team.  The second half of this game couldn't have been more boring.  The lack of any real attacking presence by FCD was troublesome to say the least. The only saving grace (or excuse) is that FC was missing 4 starters at the beginning of the game and ended up being down one more by the end of it.  The absence of Blas Perez was the most glaring I thought.  The Panamanian has been the run away team MVP this year and with him gone it only highlighted how big of a difference he has made in making up for the absence of David Ferreira. What I as a fan didn't count on was how much Dallas is missing Andrew Jacobson and Ricardo Villar in the midfield.  Real Salt Lake dominated FC Dallas through the midfield all night and Kyle Beckerman showed why Jurgen Klinsmann should be picking him on a regular basis for the USMNT.  FCD couldn't put a series of passes together all night.  I do think that Schellas Hyndman has done a great job of coaching up a mismatched starting XI in the absence of his starters and really taking some risks to see what works.  Scott Sealy showed that he was not the answer that Dallas was looking for up top. In fact I don't know if Dallas had played with 10 men without Sealy that the game would have been any different.  We saw more out of Johnathan Top, Sealy's replacement, than Scott showed in 70 minutes of play.  For me though the biggest disappointment this year, other than no David Ferriera, has been Fabian Castillo.   I know he's young but he hasn't showed even a glimmer of what FC Dallas thought they were getting with a young DP.  I found myself just hoping that no one passed him the ball in the final third because it was either going to be a half assed effort on goal or he was just going to give the ball away.  It's time for him to step up and live up to at least SOME of the hype.  Chris Seitz had another solid performance in goal for the Hoops.  In fact I think he had probably the best performance of any of the FCD players.  He's made a case that he deserves to be the heir apparent to Kevin Hartman.

One of the big questions now is going to be how much time Carlos Rodriguez is going to miss after a nasty dislocated elbow.  Rodriguez has played so well this year and was the top outfield performer for FC Dallas.  Dallas will without a doubt miss his versatility and all over the field presence.  The one bright spot that came out of this game was the return of Jackson to the FCD lineup.  I had forgotten how much of the field he takes up.  It always seemed where ever the ball was so to was Jackson.  His much need injection of speed and versatility in this lineup can no doubt be a positive to a midfield that is wracked with injuries.  Now let's just hope he's matured from last year and doesn't draw stupid red cards. It's going to be interesting to see what lineup Schellas puts on the field tomorrow against a hot LA Galaxy team. 

As I always please tell your friends about my little corner of the web and give some feed back. Also don't forget to follow us on Twitter @SoccerNutBlog.

Jay N

Chelsea v Barcelona Champs League Semi 2nd Round

What a first 45'! Chelsea seemed disjointed and downright disinterested in any serious attack during most of the first half. With only 25% of possession and 2 goals down it seemed the end was coming early for Chelsea through 44 minutes of this game. Both of Barcelona’s goals were concise and intelligent. Ramires' chip in the 45th min though was nothing short of beautiful and seemed to suddenly wake Chelsea out of their funk. It has to be said that John Terry let his team down in a critical game. On one of the biggest stages and at the time when his team needed him most he failed, both as a teammate and more importantly as a Captain.  What could he have possibly been thinking? What an immature and irresponsible thing to do. I don't know how you look at your teammates after something like that. A player, and Captain no less, of his age and experience has got to be held to a higher standard than most. Roberto Di Matteo won't openly punish a player of his status but no one could blame him if he did. John Terry owes a HUGE thank you to his team for winning in spite of his stupid mistake.

Chelsea couldn't have started off the 2nd half any worse than by giving up a penalty in the 47th minute. However when Barcelona needed their star most Messi's "Chelsea hoodoo" jumped up again. Six inches lower and I would be writing about Messi being the hero of Catalonia. But as happens so many times in this game, the team that "deserved" or maybe better described "should" have won doesn't. Maybe that's one of the things that make this game "beautiful". But I digress.... I will say that it was fun watching Lampard and Fabregas rehash old hatreds. I have to side with Lampard though. If someone uppercuts me in the nuts I'm not going to be happy either.

Once again Juan Mata was almost invisible for Chelsea. I would think, or hope, that Di Matteo would start Kalou in the Final.  The Refs did a pretty good job of officiating this game. Cech's yellow card was a little over the top but overall I think they did a good job. The yellow card to Raul Miereles also was a little harsh for me but honestly will Chelsea miss him in the final?? You do have to give Chelsea's defensive skills allot of credit. They rendered Messi ineffective through both games save for two huge chances in this round. Messi, who is without a doubt the best player on the planet regardless of what Pele thinks, has to step up when chances are presented on a stage this big.

How big was the final goal from Fernando Torres? Not only for him but for all the doubters he has (rightly) had to deal with. I would love someone to explain to me though how he wasn't offside? And should Chelsea have not been given a red card for a handball in the box right before the goal? Regardless Torres made himself a hero for Chelsea at last.  We can only hope that the Final is as exciting as this game was.

Jay N

Photo AP/Getty Images

 

Chelsea v Barcelona 1st Leg Champs League Semi

So here goes nothing on the first analysis on this sight.  Chelsea and Barcelona lived up to the excitement and expectations of a clash of two soccer giants vying to go to a Champs League final.  For the first 15 minutes it looked to be Barca’s game.  Unfortunately for them it wouldn’t end up in their favor.

Chelsea almost gave up the first goal in the 9^th minute to Alexis Sanchez but, as happened too often in this game, the Catalans couldn’t finish.  Maybe saying he couldn’t finish isn’t fair. It’s probably truer in this instance to say that they were unlucky.  The shot was a beautiful chip that got over Cech’s head but not under the cross bar.  Chelsea’s back line got caught looking for an offside call that wasn’t there and almost paid a dear price for it. 

Was it me or were there ALLOT of offside calls, especially in the first half of play? Not to say they were bad calls but good grief! Barca’s back line is a thing of beauty to watch at times and their offside trap was a textbook showing that all soccer coaches should show young (and maybe even some pro) players.  Really both back lines have to be commended in this game.  Terry and Cahill both had an amazing showing shutting down Messi up the middle, which is NOT an easy thing to do.  And Ashley Cole was one of the hardest working men on the field for Chelsea the entire match both defensively and a few times on offense. In fact his kick off the line of an unreal chip was arguably the play of the game. It was most certainly the defensive play of the game.

I don’t know however that anyone worked as hard on the field as Drogba did at times. What can be said about his finishing that hasn’t already.  With the only goal coming off a great steal by Terry (stolen from Messi no less) combined with a smart and unselfish cross from Ramires, Drogba buried the ball quickly and concisely. He also had some very nice defensive work in the final 15 minutes. OK…. With that said can we please address how many time’s he was laying on the ground grabbing some “injured” body part and screaming in anguish. I understand that drawing a foul and playing things up a bit are part of the game…..but COME ON!  Did anyone else think that maybe he should have drawn a card for diving at some point?? The only injury he actually had was a nut shot towards the last 10 minutes. (ouch…)

The only player that had almost zero influence on this game for Chelsea was Juan Mata. I really like Mata and think he’s been a great addition for Chelsea but whether he was tired from the previous FA Cup match or just off his game he was persona non grata.  He was subbed in the 75^th minute for Kalou but I think that was about 15 minutes to late. 

The exact opposite of Mata’s performance was the play of Ramires for Chelsea. He seemed to be everywhere at all times and was an integral part of both Chelsea’s linking play AND shutting down the Catalan attack in the final 20 minutes, not to mention the beautiful assist on Drogba’s goal. He’s not a player I’ve noticed much before but he’s one I’ll be paying much more attention to.

It just seemed that Barcelona couldn’t get properly organized all the way through the run of play. And when they did the finishing let them down. Kudos does have to be given with the way Chelsea shut them down especially in the final 20 minutes by gang tackling and playing 8 stacked back on defense once they had the lead.  Credit has to go to Chelsea for taking their chances when given and making sure Barcelona had as few as possible.

Barcelona did have a few nice chances in the final half of play but just couldn’t finish.  In the 57^th Sanchez missed from about 6 feet out when he received and amazing chip over the top from Cesc Fabregas.  To be fair though it was a very tight shot and his first touch wasn’t 100%. One of Barcelona’s biggest problems was set pieces.  The only decent one they had wasn’t until the 87^th minute and Petr Cech made a great save off of Puyol’s header.  The last 5 minutes of this game were a heart breaker for Barcelona as they just couldn’t get the ball in the back of the net no matter how many chances they had.

Of course it could be argued that this game may as well have been a 0-0 draw for Chelsea as going to the Nou Camp is NEVER an easy thing.  I’m interested to hear people’s opinions on whether or not Robert Di Matteo should be the full time coach at Chelsea. It seems to me that he’s woken this team up and whatever he’s doing the team is responding. Whether it’s Di Matteo or that it’s NOT Villas-Boas I’m not sure but I believe he’s earned an appointment as the skipper.

Well I guess that’s all for me for now! Please tell your friends and fellow soccer fiends about the new blog and please give me some feedback on what you think. Also please follow me on Twitter @SoccerNutBlog.

Thanks!

Jay N

               

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Jay

The First

So this is the first post. No pressure...  My name is Jay and as the title of this little blog says I'm a soccer guy. Never played the game (save for that one horrible winter of '91) but I've grown to love and appreciate the sport. I fully believe that soccer in this country, and yes I will refer to the game as soccer, doesn't get the respect and exposure that it deserves. While the sport gets almost no coverage on major sports networks, save for BIG tournaments, there is an amazing online presence of bloggers/supporters/fans that help drive coverage of "The Beautiful Game". My hope with this is to be a little tiny piece of the dialogue that's out there and to maybe spurn some talk/debate that those of us who follow the game love.  If you like and support what I'm trying to do here please share/like/tell your friends about my tiny little corner of the Internet. Please subscribe and share your opinions on all things soccer. 

Thank You,

 Jay