A lot was at stake today, it is the grand slam Sunday, Manchester against Liverpool, Arsenal against Chelsea. Manchester won 1-0 by Tevez’s goal, so Arsenal had to win to stay top of the table, and they WON.
A very vital win against rivals Chelsea. Arsenal simply deserved to win today by far more than just a 1-0 scoreline, two goals were canceled, and tons of amazing shots on target. Amazing game, great goal by Gallas in the last seconds of the first half, huge team effort.
Read more and watch the video highlights after the jump…
Today Gallas gave Arsenal the first win against Chelsea since 11 matches in all games, the last time Arsenal beat Chelsea was in a Premier League match on Feb. 2004 that ended 2-1 in the Stamford Bridge. Gallas have also saved Arsenal last month when he gave them the equalizer against Manchester United which ended 2-2.
Arsene Wenger seemed satisfied, he said: “It was a tough game, locked in the first half, open in the second and one where we should have scored a second goal, our defense was outstanding today. Not only did they keep a clean sheet but they scored the goal as well. Overall I felt it was a great football game.”
Terry was injured in the 40th minute of the first half, but it is still not clear if it is a serious injury. 5 players from both sides were given yellow cards. The match heated up in the last 15 minutes of the second half, Van Persie and Adebayor both scored, but the goals were disallowed, one was an offside and the other was a foul.
I know that the match was a friendly, but last couple years it was nice to watch the match, seeing all these talents playing together. Not this time, this time it was boring, oh sorry, no actually it was, booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooring. Again, I know its just a friendly, but come on play for God’s sake, by the first few minutes of the second half it was like a challenge between me and myself to sit and continue watching, promising myself that it will get better, sadly it didn’t.
Even while watching the highlights i was bored, here have a look and tell me am wrong.
I can easily tell you that this is the match most people will be watching, even they are not Italy or Scotland fans. This fixture just has all the excitement a football fan would love. This is the most important match is Scotland’s history of playing the game, thats not only my opinion, it the media around the world. and It’s true.
Scotland has the opportunity today not only to qualify to Euro 2008, but to disqualify Italy. Can you imagine this. It will always be recorded in history that Scotland disqualified Italy. Italy is praying now that history does not repeat itself, back when Italy won the World Cup in 1982, Italy didn’t just disqualify from the Euro 1984, they did not even win any matches for around 18 months since their win in the world cup in Spain.
Analysis & Prediction & Video’s after the Jump.
One more thing that might give even more hope for the Scots, Italy never won a match in Scotland!!, and Scotland has a nice record of upsetting big teams. But on the other hand Italy’s record against Scotland is their side, and the last match which they won 2-0 just last March in this competition.
Of-course no body expect Italy to be pushovers but they will be facing some difficulties today for sure. The only injuries in Italy are the defender Matterazi who picked a thigh injury back in august and Massimo Oddo who got injured while training. Scotland does not have any reported injuries.
Here is how this will work, Scotland will qualify if they win Italy, obviously, and if they got a draw they still have hope, if France lose to Ukraine and/or Italy loses against Faroe Island. Italy qualifies if they win Scotland, and if this draw with the Scots they either win or draw against Faroe Islands, or they lose to Scotland, and Win against Faroe Islands and France loses to Ukraine.
If Italy lose to Scotland, and France win or draw Ukraine, or Italy draw with Scotland and they lose to Faroe Island (highly unexpected), they will not qualify.
Scotland is expected to play 4-5-1 (just being careful), the squad consists of: Craig Gordon, David Marshall, Allan McGregor, Graham Alexander, Gary Caldwell, Christian Dailly, Alan Hutton, Jay McEveley, Stephen McManus, Gary Naysmith, David Weir, Scott Brown, Barry Ferguson, Darren Fletcher, Paul Hartley, Lee McCulloch, Stephen Pearson, Barry Robson, Gary Teale, Craig Beattie, Kris Boyd, James McFadden, Shaun Maloney, Kenny Miller, Garry O’Connor.
Italy on the other hand might mix their formation between 4-1-4-1 to 4-3-3 when they attack, their squad consists of: Amelia, Buffon, Curci, Barzagli, Bonera, Cannavaro, Chiellini, Grosso, Panucci, Zambrotta, Ambrosini, Camoranesi, De Rossi, Gattuso, Perrotta, Pirlo, Di Natale, Gilardino, Iaquinta, Lucarelli, Palladino, Quagliarella, Toni.
I expect the match to go like this, Scotland will score first, by the end of the first half Italy will equalize, and in the second half Italy will score another goal making the scoreline be 1-2 in Full Time. With the slight possibility of the Scots successfully defending to keep the score 1-1.
Here are the goals Italy score on Scotland last March:
He tried to be subtle but failed, Inter Milan’s Ibrahimovic showed his ambitions to join Real Madrid one day, but kept saying he is happy in Inter Milan, and that he wont leave because of the crowd violence in italy and so on, he even semi-attacked fabio cannavaro for leaving italy to play in spain. What do you exactly want ?!
First you say you wish you play for Real Madrid and that they are the best “They’re one of the biggest clubs in the world and everyone in the world wants to play for them.“, and then you drool over joining them “Nobody knows the future. I have a long contract with Inter Milan, but in football, you never know what’s around the corner.“, then you go back to say “I have no fear when playing in Italy because there is a lot of protection. All the players have long and important contracts and are not responsible for what is happening. Unlike (Fabio) Cannavaro, I think I’m lucky to play in Italy where I’m very happy at the moment“.
This is just a rescue call for Real Madrid telling them to please come and take me from this place. I think that Ibrahimovic shouldve never said what he said, and just focus on his football, its not as if he is exceeding expectations this season. And even if he was he just shouldn’t talk to the media in this way.
Real Madrid will be playing their 4th match in the Champions League Group C, nicely standing top of the table with 7 points, while Olympiakos is playing at home and is 2nd place with 4 points.
As we can recollect, Robinho played a very important role in the last match which ended 4-2 for Real Madrid, the match was sensational really made us all be on edge. Real Madrid players showed their real spirit in that match and showed how much they want to win this season.
One weird observation is that Real Madrid lost a match before meeting Olympiakos, in the first match they lost 2-1 to Espanyol and now they just got a 2-0 loss against Sevilla. But i still expect Real Madrid to focus in this match and just put whatever past wins and losses aside.
Wingers Arjen Robben and Gonzalo Higuaín and the backup goal keeper Jerzy Dudek are still injured but the central defender Pepe and midfielder Wesley Sneijder are back and going to be traveling with their team mates but not sure if any of them would be able to play full 90 minutes.
Olympiakos will be missing injured defender Paraskevas Antzas and Vassilis Torossidis who was sent off in the previous match. Michal Zewlakow is back from injury and might feature in the match, although i seriously doubt he could play a full match.
My eyes will be locked on 3 main players today, ofcourse Robinho especially after his great show against Olympiakos although he wasn’t able to do much against Sevilla in the Spanish league but still its going to be different here. Another Real Madrid player to watch would be Wesley Sneijder that is if he played any part in the game. From Olympiakos the amazing midfielder Predrag Djordjevic who is 35 years old and plays as if he is 25 amazing speed and dribbling.
Real Madrid expected formation (4-1-3-2): Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Metzelder, Cannavaro, Marcelo, Heinze, Diarra, Sneijder, Guti, Robinho – Raúl, van Nistelrooy
I donno why players love to embarrass themselves, specially Del Piero, you are old enough not to put yourself in this situation, i know that sometimes these come as psychological mind play and so on to put fear in your opponent, but for God sake you are embarrassing yourself and your team with this kind of talk. Not only saying “The rivalry has been fierce for years, but this time it is the most tense of all, it’s almost like we’re playing for the Scudetto.” which just shows how afraid and worried you are from the match.
To be honest it is so sad to see him saying this “I feel in great shape, I do not see why I should consider retiring at the end of my current contract.”, hey old man give youngsters the chance, am not saying leave football, just stop playing it, become a couch or a scout or somthing. You ust gotta know when to hang the boots.
A lot was at stake today, it is the grand slam Sunday, Manchester against Liverpool, Arsenal against Chelsea. Manchester won 1-0 by Tevez’s goal, so Arsenal had to win to stay top of the table, and they WON.
I can easily tell you that this is the match most people will be watching, even they are not Italy or Scotland fans. This fixture just has all the excitement a football fan would love. This is the most important match is Scotland’s history of playing the game, thats not only my opinion, it the media around the world. and It’s true.
He tried to be subtle but failed, Inter Milan’s Ibrahimovic showed his ambitions to join Real Madrid one day, but kept saying he is happy in Inter Milan, and that he wont leave because of the crowd violence in italy and so on, he even semi-attacked fabio cannavaro for leaving italy to play in spain. What do you exactly want ?!
Real Madrid will be playing their 4th match in the Champions League Group C, nicely standing top of the table with 7 points, while Olympiakos is playing at home and is 2nd place with 4 points.
I donno why players love to embarrass themselves, specially Del Piero, you are old enough not to put yourself in this situation, i know that sometimes these come as psychological mind play and so on to put fear in your opponent, but for God sake you are embarrassing yourself and your team with this kind of talk. Not only saying “The rivalry has been fierce for years, but this time it is the most tense of all, it’s almost like we’re playing for the Scudetto.” which just shows how afraid and worried you are from the match.