Soccer Table Update as of 12/30

As we close the book on 2009 the Premiere wrapped up rounds 19 and 20 over the course of the past week (20 games in 5 days). US Soccer is still in off-season, while the Italian and European Champions League were both on winter break this week. Here is a look at how all the action broke down and the current status of the  EPL table heading into the second half of the season.

EPL:

Past week's results:

 - Saturday - Saturday started off with the surprising Birmingham holding table leaders Chelsea to a 0-0 draw - In a relegation battle West Ham topped Portsmouth 2-0 - Manchester City won new manager Robert Mancini's first match against Stoke City 2-0. 

 - Sunday - On Sunday the traditional top 4 powers displayed their strength with Arsenal 3-0 over Aston Villa and Manchester United 3-1 against Hull City. 

 - Monday - The new week saw a full slate of action including Tottenham getting back on track with a 2-0 win versus West Ham - Everton continued their climb with a 2-0 over Burnley - Chelsea beat Fulham 2-1 after falling behind early - Mancini's ManCity stayed undefeated with a 3-0 win against Wolverhampton.

 - Tuesday - Aston Villa looked to exploit Liverpool's weak current form, but a stoppage time goal by Torres saw Liverpool win 1-0 - Bolton pulled ahead 2-0, only to see Hull City draw 2-2 by the end of the match and steal a point. 

 - Wednesday - Much like Sunday, the final day of round 20 saw Arsenal and Manchester United put on a clinic. Manchester United thumped Wigan 5-0, while Arsenal continued their dazzling form with a 4-1 win over Portsmouth.

- Current EPL Table -  20 games in (for only 13 of the 20 teams actually) and Chelsea sit atop the table with 45 points. The Blues got off to a hot start back in the fall, but have cooled off with only 2 wins in the their last 8 matches. Manchester United sit in second with 43 points, but Arsenal are at 41 points with a game in hand over both ManU and Chelsea. The battle for the 4th UEFA Champions League spot is tightening between Tottenham (37), ManCity (35), Aston Villa (35), and Liverpool (33). Also don't count out the dark horse team of the team - Birmingham - which sits in 8th with 32 points. Portsmouth is still in last place at 14 points and only 4 wins in 20 games. However, the rest of the relegation battle is tight, there is currently only a 5 point gap between 10th and 19th. 

Mid-season is here in the EPL, predictions on the top 4? relegation teams? golden boot winner?

How to choose a team....Part 2

This blog marks my 100th post for The Free Kicks Report. I thought for this entry I would re-visit the 5th blog from August 2009 titled 'How to choose a team...' and give an update. The purpose of the first blog was to discuss why people choose a particular team as 'their' team - players, style of play, title contender, etc. and to try and determine my favorite EPL club. Based on those criteria I discussed 10 teams (half the EPL, I know) that were potential selections for myself - ManU, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Fulham, ManCity, Aston Villa, Wolverhampton, Hull City, and Everton. I would now like to re-visit those criteria and introduce a new one and see where the lists currently stands.

1) Player Based - There are players on multiple teams that I enjoy cheering for Altidore (Hully City) and Demsey (Fulham), but I've found that I can't support a team just based on 1 man. However, I do believe there must be several players on a team that you like to follow for you to stay with the team. No one will cheer for a team in which they don't really care for the men on the pitch.

2) Style of Play - This criteria has moved up in importance for me as I continue to watch more and more European soccer. I enjoy the fast paced, attacking style of play seen as Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, Tottenham, etc. Soccer is a game of flow and ball control. Nothing is more frustrating than watching your team sit in a defensive shell and have the opposite lobs shots at them all afternoon.

3) Contender - A team doesn't necessarily have to be the top 1 or 2 or even in the best form at the moment. What kind of fan would you be if you jump ship every time your team lost? What I think is most important here is that you see the commitment from the players, manager and front office striving to be that title contending team. Even when Everton were down early this year and as Liverpool have struggled, no one can question there desire for the top 4.

4) FIFA 2010 - Everyone enjoys FIFA and has discovered a player or team that you like to play as. You may even have seen them on a televised game, but this is no reason to think that it is your team. You base FIFA decisions on numbers in the game - budget, stats, coaching openings available, etc.

5) Rivalry - While it is fun to have other people support the team you like. Nothing is the same as trash talking your friends and family over the upcoming match or their team dropping 3 points to a relegation zone team. Over this past season I've discovered that while I didn't have anything against Chelsea one of my cousin's has taken them up as his team, which has made me watch to see them slip up so I can give him a hard time. Even without a team to root for people start to find teams to root against.

Based on re-evaluating these criteria and watching the first half of the 2009-2010 EPL season I can say my initial list of 10 has been reduced to 4. In no particular order - Arsenal, Manchester City, Tottenham and Everton. I enjoy a team based on their style of play (Arsenal and ManCity), key players (Arshavin, Van Persie, Adebayor, Howard, Crouch),  and aggressive management (ManCity and Tottenham have made several keys moves to move up the table). So for now I'll keep evaluating these four teams (and Donovan's arrival at Everton) to see if I will be able to narrow the list down to 1 by the time to the trophy is lifted.

What are your thoughts on how to pick a team? How about the teams I've selected in my final four?

EPL Table Update - Coming Soon

Back from the holiday, hope everyone had some good time off. Due to the double fixture currently going on in the EPL (two games for most teams between Saturday through Wednesday), I will hold off on posting the EPL table update until Wednesday night.

Also, I'll be back later tonight with another post - the 100th of The Free Kicks Report.

Soccer TV Schedule for the week of 12/26

Happy Holidays to everyone. Hopefully you are enjoying some great time off and can fit in some soccer action this weekend. Italian and European league soccer is on a break for the winter, but luckily the EPL has stepped up to fill in the gap. We have 11 games over the next 5 days airing on ESPN2 and FSC.

Saturday (26th):
- EPL: Birmingham vs. Chelsea - 7:45am - ESPN2HD
- EPL: Fulham vs. Tottenham - 8:00am - FSC
- EPL: Sunderland vs. Everton - 10am - FSC
- EPL: Liverpool vs. Wolverhampton - 12:30pm - FSC
- EPL: Burnley vs. Bolton - 2:30pm - FSC

Sunday (27th):
- EPL: Hull City vs. Manchester United - 11am - FSC

Monday (28th):
- EPL: Tottenham vs. West Ham - 7:30am - FSC
- EPL: Blackburn vs. Sunderland - 10am - FSC
- EPL: Wolverhampton vs Manchester City - 2:30pm - FSC

Tuesday (29th):
- EPL: Bolton vs. Hull City - 3pm - FSC

Wednesday (30th):
- EPL: Portsmouth vs. Arsenal - 2:30pm - FSC

MLS 2010 Preview: SuperDraft

The tenth annual MLS draft is scheduled to take place on Thursday January 14th, 2010 in Philadelphia, PA. The draft will consist of 4 rounds, with 16 picks in each round. As the new 2010 expansion team the Philadelphia Union will receive the first pick in each of the four rounds. The MLS champions, Real Salt Lake, will get the final pick of each round. As in other league's drafts, teams are able to trade draft positions, as well as draft spots for players or money.

The folks over at DraftSite have put together a mock draft of the first two rounds. Two Wake Forest players are projected to go one-two, Ike Opara and Corben Bone. Akron sensation Teal Bunbury is slated to go 9th to the New England Revolution - a team who could use the young striker. Dilly Duka, freshman from Rutgers, is currently #3 on the board and has already had experience with the US U-20 team. One last player to watch in the draft is Gale Agbossoumonde, who currently is on the Miami FC roster from the USL-1 last year. He is currently 18 and is looking to skip college altogether and head straight into the professional game. 


Also check out MLSDraft.net, they have a mock draft and tons of news surrounding the players and teams.


Last year several young stars emerged from the draft - Steve Zakuani (Seattle Sounders), Omar Gonzalez (LA Galaxy), Chris Pontius (DC United), AJ Delagarza (LA Galaxy), and Stefan Frei (Toronto FC). 

Soccer Table Update as of 12/21

In the US, the big news this week was Landon Donovan signing a short term loan deal with EPL side Everton. Other than that, it was the massive snow storm which hit the east coast. Italy experienced a similar snow storm which postponed several Serie A league matches prior to the winter break. However, freezing temperatures and occasional snow did not stop the full slate of EPL games this past week. Here is a look at the results from this past week and how the EPL and Serie A tables look.

EPL:
- Past week's results - A full week of games as teams played twice, some twice in four days. The week started with ManU dismantling Wolves 3-0 and Aston Villa defeating Sunderland 2-0 - On Wednesday the top of the table met the bottom of the table and the result ended like you would expect, Chelsea 2-1 over Portsmouth - Tottemham beat ManCity 3-0 in a battle of top four hopefuls - Saturday started with Portsmouth shocking Liverpool 2-0 - Fulham dropped ManU at home for the second year in a row, and Man City  edged out Sunderland in a 4-3 goal fest - Sunday saw the Wolves get back on track with a 2-0 win against Burnley - Wigan vs. Bolton was postponed due to snow, I guess even the EPL couldn't full escape it.
- Current EPL Table - Chelsea (41) gained 1 point over ManU (37) to stay atop the table by 4 points - Arsenal and Aston Villa are close behind at 35 a piece, but Arsenal have a game in hand - ManCity's (29) win moved them into 6th place and Liverpool (27) back down into 8th - Wolverhampton's win moved them into 12th at 19 points, but in a tightening relegation zone they sit only 5 points behind last place Portsmouth (14).

Serie A:
- Past week's results - Both games on Saturday were postponed due to snow until after the winter break, including the AC Milan vs. Fiorentina match-up - On Sunday two UEFA CL contenders battled and saw Roma defeat Parma 2-0 - Juventus was upset by bottom of the table side Catania - Inter Milan kept performing as expected and as needed for another Serie A crown, this time with a 1-0 over Lazio.
- Current Serie A Table - With AC Milan idle Inter (39) moved 8 points ahead, however AC Milan (31) is now 1 point ahead of Juventus (30) in third and has a game in hand - Roma's (28) victory leaped them into 4th over Parma on goal differential - Sampdoria (25) continued their slide, now into 8th place for the one time leaders.

FIFA Club World Cup:
- On Saturday night European champions Barcelona came from behind to defeat South American champions Estudiantes 2-1 in extra time to claim the 2009 FIFA Club World Cup. Head to ESPN's page for full coverage and results.

UEFA Champions League 1st Knockout Round Draw & Predictions

On Friday, December 18th, UEFA announced the match-ups for the 1st knockout round of the Champions League. After group play the top two teams from each group advanced to the knockout round, 16 teams in total. For the draw teams could not be matched up against a team from their home country or a team from their qualifying group. Here is a look at each of the eight home-and-away draws and my prediction for each:

Stuttgart (GER) vs. Barcelona (SPA)
 - Stuttgart barely advanced into the knockout rounds and will most likely be happy just to have made it this far. They are rewarded with a chance to play the current champions, Barcelona.
 - Prediction: Barcelona 4-1 (aggregate)

Olympiacos (GRE) vs. Bordeaux (FRA)
 - Olympiacos won each of their group stage matches at home. However, Bordeaux did not lose a single game, home or away, in the group stage. They topped Bayern Munich and Juventus, and earned the most points of all remaining teams in the previous round.
 - Prediction: Bordeaux 3-0 (aggregate)

Inter Milan (ITA) vs. Chelsea (ENG)

 - Mourinho returns to London to take on his former team. The Italian champs finished second, but not impressively. Chelsea has been slipping lately in the EPL, but it a strong, experienced squad. Should be fun to watch Eto'o take on Drogba.

 - Prediction: Chelsea 3-2 (aggregate)

Bayern Munich (GER) vs. Fiorentina (ITA)

 - Bayern Munich advanced as expected, but are not the strong squad from the past. Fiorentina have been average in the domestic league, but excellent in Europe - beating Liverpool and Lyon.

 - Prediction: Fiorentina 4-2 (aggregate)

CSKA Moscow (RUS) vs. Sevilla (SPA)

 - Sevilla started out as one of the hottest teams in the early part of the group stage, but then cooled off at the end. CSKA Moscow beat out Wolfsburg to grab the second spot in Group B. With a 7 goal differential in the group stage Sevilla has too much fire power for CSKA to overcome.

 - Prediction: Sevilla 3-1 (aggregate)

Lyon (FRA) vs. Real Madrid (SPA)

 - Lyon only lost 1 match out of 6 in the last round and are traditionally France's best team. However, they will be going up against a Real Madrid which put in 15 goals in 6 games and is playing for a spot in the finals, which is in their home stadium this year.

 - Prediction: 4-3 (aggregate)

Porto (POR) vs. Arsenal (ENG)

 - Porto's only real competition in the last round was Chelsea, which they lost two both times. Arsenal on the other hand jumped out to a big early lead in their group and cruised to a knockout round spot. That along with the fact that Wenger's young guns are making a march for the Premiere League crown, means you can write this one in pen.

 - Prediction: Arsenal 5-1 (aggregate)

AC Milan (ITA) vs. Manchester United (ENG)

 - The most interesting match-up of the 1st knockout round. David Beckham returns to Manchester United, the team that he built his career with. ManU finished atop their group and are right were everyone expects them to be. AC Milan had a slightly harder time, just beating out Marseille on the last group play day. When AC Milan lines up Pato, Ronaldinho, Beckham, Seedorf, Pirlo and Huntelaar the ManU defense will be exposed, much like this season in the EPL. The Red Devil fans are happy to see Beckham again, but not the final result.

 - Prediction: AC Milan 3-2 (aggregate)

The first legs will be played over February 16, 17, 23, and 24th, and the second legs will be played on March 9, 10, 16, and 17th. All matches can be seen on Fox Soccer Channel.

What are your predictions on the match-ups?

Soccer TV Schedule for the Week of 12/19

A packed weekend of soccer is schedule with a light holiday week to follow. Headlining the action this weekend is the conclusion of the FIFA Club World Cup between the European champion, Barcelona, and the South American champion, Estudiantes, Saturday night on FSC. In the EPL we have seven matches between Saturday morning and a Monday afternoon match, including Liverpool, ManCity, Arsenal and Chelsea. For the Serie A, AC Milan looks to get back on track against top 3 contender Fiorentina, while on Sunday reigning champions Inter take on Lazio.

Saturday (19th):
- EPL: Liverpool vs. Portsmouth - 7:45am - ESPN2HD
- EPL: Manchester City vs. Sunderland - 10am - FSC
- EPL: Arsenal vs. Hull City - 12:30pm - FSC
- Serie A: Fiorentina vs. AC Milan - 2:45pm - FSC
- EPL: Aston Villa vs. Stoke City - 5pm - FSC
- FIFA Club World Cup: 3rd Place Match: Pohang Steelers vs. Atlante FC - 7pm - FSC
- FIFA Club World Cup: 1st Place Match: Barcelona vs. Estudiantes - 9pm - FSC

Sunday (20th):
- Serie A: Roma vs. Parma - 9am - FSC
- EPL: Chelsea vs. West Ham - 11am - FSC
- Serie A: Inter Milan vs. Lazio - 2:45pm - FSC
- EPL: Everton vs. Birmingham City - 5pm - FSC

Monday (21st):
- EPL: Wigan vs. Bolton - 2:55pm - ESPN2HD

Thoughts on the game of the weekend?

Donovan re-signs with LA, up for possible Everton loan

After weeks of speculation about the future of America's most popular soccer player, the contract has been signed. Rumors of a full move to Mexico or England turned out to be just that, rumors, well not exactly. On Wednesday, January 16th, Landon Donovan signed a 4-year deal with the LA Galaxy to keep the US National team striker in the MLS until 2013. This past season was on of Landon's best in the MLS - Player of the Year, 12 goals, and made it to the MLS Cup.

However, the other big news coming out of this press release was that Landon would have the option to go out on loan each MLS off-season. This was following rumors of a move to Everton in the EPL. While the loan deal has not been finalized, most speculate that Donovan will join Everton from Jan 1st to March 15th to team up the US National goal keeper Tim Howard. The loan would end in time for Landon to return to the LA Galaxy for the start of the 2010 MLS season against the New England Revolution.

I believe this move will be beneficial for Donovan. Everton is a smaller team that has had several injuries this season, including up top, so his chances of get play time are increased here. Having friend Tim Howard on the team will help him adjust to life in England and the style of play in the EPL. Additionally, after Donovan went on a similar short-loan to Bayern Munich last off-season it improved his game and he returned to the MLS stronger and more focused.

Another interesting news story which came out the day after the press release was that Landon was close to signing a loan deal with Mexican side Club America. Mexico has a more similar playing style to the MLS than the EPL and he would be closer to home and the national team. However, in the end Donovan stated that the challenge of playing in England and being on the same team with Tim Howard was too good to pass up.

What are you thoughts on Donovan's move? How will he do in the EPL?

FIFA Player of the Decade

In the upcoming January issue of World Soccer they announced the FIFA Player of the Decade award. The final voting was close, but in the end, 2004 & 2005 World Player of the Year Ronaldinho beat current Player of the Year Lionel Messi by 22 points. Voting was based on the annual World Player of the Year voting between 2000 through 2009.

Ronaldinho helped Brazil win the 2002 World Cup and Barcelona with the UEFA Champions League in 2006. Over the past few years he has experienced a drop off in form following that 2006 European title. However, following a transfer to AC Milan, Ronaldinho has started to regain his old form and impressive skills.

Check out the full Player of the Decade voting which lists the to 40 players. Other notable players were Ronaldo (3rd), Henry (4th), Kaka (5th), Zidane (10th), Torres (18th), Van Nistrelrooy (24th), Beckham (36th), and Rooney (37th).

Thoughts on the final voting for the Player of the Decade voting?