Champions League/Chelsea/World Cup

The blog is beginning to lack in consistency of posts, and for this we apologize. Because of this we have a lot to talk about, first up: Champions League. Now I wished the worst for Inter Milan, mostly because Jose turned his back on Chelsea. He is the master tactician though, I will give him credit for that. But what will he do to Real Madrid? I think he'll turn them into a style the Madrid fans won't like, predictable, tough to break down, and boring. I'm a Chelsea fan, I loved when they would win, and its hard to dislike a winner, but eventually, just as at Chelsea, the Owner/fans will want not just to win, but to win with style and class. Back to the Champs league, Jose did well to beat three sides that outplayed him, Chelsea, Barca, and Bayern in that order. I think Jose was talking with the Greece 2004 team, they're coming out with a new book titled "How to win competitions you have no business winning". It is due out next summer, should be pretty good a lot of stuff to help your team over achieve. But credit to Milito, I didn't rate him too much before this year, but he was absolute quality.

Second on the docket, Chelsea winning the double, its fantastic to be on top once again right where we belong. At one point in the season I saw united 2 points clear, Chelsea we're eliminated from the Champions league by some scrubs and I thought to myself, not again. But now we have 2 trophies, United have 0, well 1 if you count Carling and in my opinion Carling only counts if you win the other three..

Now world cup is coming quickly, as I type I am watching Donnovan pick apart Turkey. If I were English I'd want to double team him for sure. English would love to have a winger of his quality, but instead they take their best Center Mid and play him out wide, Steven Gerrard for those of you who didn't get that one. I'm just saying, USA have a good team this year and not to jinx it but England should make sure they secure that second spot in the group stage.

World Cup predictions soon to come.

Matt

Barca v Inter Response

You know I watched this game hoping Barcelona would win, after Mourinho left Chelsea I decided I would hope the worst for him. But The fact of the matter is, he is a great manager, he did what he did to Chelsea in the round of 16 to Barcalona in the Semi-finals. These two things are no small feat, especially when you have a crap squad, compared to Chelsea and Barcalona of course. Inter has some players I admire, par example, Cambiasso, Sneijder, and the Brazilian who has been brilliant this year Lucio. I know I hated on him against Chelsea for diving, but the jobs he did shutting down Drogba and Ibrahimovic are admirable because that is not easy.

At times in this game you could see Inter going with the hardly used 7-2 formation. With a man down to Barcalona you would expect them to park the bus though. I was glad to see Barca score because that last 10 minutes was the only bit worth watching, unless you like watching Inter's ability to shift and close down in the danger areas. I wish the goal would've come about 20 minutes earlier, that would've been a real test of strength for the Italians. As a midfielder myself, as soon as I go down a man against Barcalona I would think, here goes the longest 60 minutes of my life. Credit to Inter, they pulled it off and I would bet they will take the final as well. Robben might have a thing or two to say, but away goals don't count in the final so they might be in for it.

Matt

Barca vs Inter Milan

If you were a fan of soccer you had to be tuned into the Barcelona vs Inter Milan game today. I feel the need to talk about it since it was quite an interesting game.

Obviously, I figured Inter would come in and park the bus a little which they did very well. There is nothing wrong with that because it is part of soccer and it takes great players and great tactics to pull it off.

Things got more difficult for Inter when Motta got the red which in my opinion wasn't deserved, but Inter weathered the storm and went through.

This is my dilemna though. I am a huge fan of Mourinho, and I think he will be one of the all time greats, but I believe the media gives him a little too much credit. Mourinho put his team in a position to win but he did not win the match for them. When you play a man down it is the players on the field that win the match, with their hard work and focus.

The media has spun it that Mourinho won the match when I believe he was only a part of it.

He is a charismatic fellow so it is easy to put all the credit and the blame on him, but I call it the ''Alex Ferguson factor.'' Where the manager gets too much credit for what the team did for him.

Congrats to Inter Milan though. They have given dignity to my beloved Serie A. Finally the soccer world is back to where its supposed to be.

On a side note, I absolutely loved the fact that Barcelona turned on the sprinklers while Inter was celebrating on the field. Can't you tell Barcelona doesnt lose much?

NIKO

Matt Friesen: Free Kick

I like Niko, good little highlight vid, I loved the celebration at royal liege! Totally worth the yellow card.

I thought I'd put up my free kick video from last year against the Timbers:

You also get to see a first class interview with yours truly.

I recently did another interview with the Seattle Examiner, I thought I'd link that as well if you guys want to check it out:

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-413-Seattle-Soccer-Examiner~y2010m4d27-Matt-Friesen-returns-as-Kitsap-Pumas-free-kick-artist

My freekick is on there to along with another goal I scored, check it out!


Matt

Niko Gkionis Showreel

Hello friends,

I wanted to share with you a little highlight tape a friend of mine put together of me. I am not a fancy player so you will not see many Messi-esque type stuff but it should still be entertaining. Check it out and tell me what you think.



NIKO

Champions League Round-up

I will be the first to admit that I was suprised by the result of the Inter vs Barcelona game. I do not know if I underestimated my favorite coah Mourinho or I underestimated the strength of Inter, but the result shocked me. I will chalk it up to the fact that Barcelona had to take an 11 hour bus to Milan instead of flying. (Lyon, Liverpool, and Fulham all couldn't fly as well and I think the only result that is positive is Fulham who drew away to Hamburg.)

Inter just played a very good tactical game and that should be expected from the Italian teams. Barcelona could hold possession but it was difficult to break down Inter. It reminded me of last years semifinals where Barcelona had a hard time breaking down Chelsea. I am sure Mourinho studied that match and obviously he came up with the right tactic.

The return leg will be a different story, but Inter are very tough defensively. Barcelona did beat them 2-0 at home in the group stage so that same result will put them through this time around. We will see.

Correction on Matt's post- Messi did not actually get the assist it was Maxwell.

Now speaking about the other match. What is with the French players making bone head mistakes in big games? FIrst it is Zidane with the headbutt and now its Ribery with that nonsense. You could see he was losing his head and he thought he could get away with that tackle. Credit to the ref, because a lot of refs would have been to scared to give a red there.

The ref on Toulalan was a little harsh but I could see why it was given. It changed the game a little bit and obviously Robben took care of business once again. The guy is on fire at the moment.

I think Bayern draws at Lyon and goes through to the final. After watching the first match I think they are strong enough to do it. They will definitely get an away goal I feel.

I find it comical that two players that Real Madrid did not want are dominating the Champions League this year. Wesley Sneijder for Inter and Arjen Robben for Bayern. Both are a huge reason why their respective teams are far in the Champs League. Meanwhile, Real Madrid are struggling a little bit. It is weird how soccer works isn't it?

NIKO

1000th's visit

Like to take a quick second to say thanks for everyone who reads the blog, the 1000 visit mark has been reached, hopefully it will continue to grow.

But anyway lets talk Champions League, two very exciting matches just went down.. First up Barca V. Inter, classic Inter performance. Lock down and counter attack, granted they play a LITTLE bit, just a little; Milito was offsides about 15x, but credit to him he was effective. Barca got caught very very high in possession multiple times, and I talked with Mourinho and that was the game plan. They shut down Messi, granted he got the assist but he was quiet for being Lionel. Now This sets up to be a fantastic return match and the camp nou, I'll tell you I'm rooting for Barca in this one only because Chelsea lost to Inter and I hate them in general. So my prediction is 3-0 Barca, they'll pull it out.

Now on to the second Semi, Bayern and Lyon. 2 red cards distributed equally in this match. The Ribery red, although didn't seem malicious, was a bad challenge the way he stomped down. Now the second red was disgraceful, Toulalone got all ball while taking the ball, never has ever been a red card (well second yellow); it wasn't even a foul. But you know these things happen, and Bayern's savior this year, Robben, who I'm not sure why Chelsea got rid of, saved them again from nearly the same location as against United. If they win the UCL he will be a huge part of it. Bayern would be my favorites to win it, but I think in reality the other semi final is really the final. This is reality.

Niko what was your take? Get at me
Matt