A Eurosnob's paradise

What better way to spend the day than by watching two intense matches between top of the table opponents. Manchester United faced Chelsea on FSC while Inter Milan met surprising Palermo on GolTV.

(I know some of you are wondering how in the world I watch so much soccer. Well, Tivo certainly helps and this happened to be a relatively light weekend otherwise. It also doesn't hurt that all of my fantasy football teams went south weeks ago.)

Here's my take on the day's matches (the ones I watched anyway):

Chelsea ties Manchester United-Let me start by confessing that I am a closet Manchester United fan. They hooked me the year they won the treble. It seemed like a week couldn't go by without them scoring a late goal to either tie or win a game. After spending a week in Manchester in 2003 for a series of stories (including Tim Howard's arrival there) I got hooked. I'm not  die-hard fan or anything but I'll generally watch them if they're on.

This game has all the intensity and skill you would expect. Man U starts strong and controls the first half while Chelsea turns it on in the second half. There are few, if any, teams I really dislike and Chelsea is one of them. No, not because of the absurd spending (I'm a Yankee fan so I can't really hate them for that), it's just something about the club that irks me. Maybe it's the fact that they really don't play beautiful soccer despite the mega-bucks roster. Chelsea steals a late tie in this one and I can see it now. Man U has avoided injuries so far this year and that will eventually catch up to them and reveal their super-thin bench. They needed to open a gap today with a win and didn't. It's going to cost them.

Inter Milan beats Palermo- I don't watch nearly enough Serie A games, though AC Milan is a favorite, so I had to take in Inter and see their wealth of talent. I also wanted to see what Palermo was all about. There's no boring Catenaccio here, only some really good free-flowing soccer. Ibrahimovic looks good in scoring the first goal while Adriano returns from his exile to get the start. The Brazilian lefty doesn't do much unfortunately, at least not until the second half.

One Brazilian who does impress is Palermo striker Amauri. If the name rings a bell it's because he's the same forward who lit it up for Chievo during their great run a year ago. Now Amauri is leading Palermo's resurgence and he delivered a sweet equalizer just seconds before halftime. What's funny is that Amauri might wind up being eligible for Italian citizenship soon, which could mean a spot on the Italian national team. This is nothing new for Brazilians, winding up on other national teams, but this guy is actually good enough to play for Brazil. 

Another player I spot is Santiago Solari. He's got a special place in my journalistic past because I covered him in college. Yes, you read that right. For those who don't know the story, Solari played a season for Richard Stockton in New Jersey before returning to his native Argentina and embarking on a pro career that would lead him to Real Madrid and now has him playing for Inter. Just imagine that one. A midfielder who was plying his trade in the NJAC twelve years ago is now in Serie A. You never know where world-class talent is hiding.

Other familiar faces in the match include Marco "Your sister" Materazzi and Christian "own goal of the decade" Zaccardo. Fabio "I scored the World Cup-winning penalty kick" Grosso was also in the house and has made a smooth transition to the big time.

One face we didn't see was Luis Figo's. He was dressed and on the bench but did not play. Hmm, very interesting. Could they be easing him out the door knowing that he is headed to MLS? Nice idea but no, I'm sure they were just resting him after having played in Wednesday's Champions League match. For those Luis Figo's lovers out there here's a good story about him. What on earth would he say about MLS? He sounds like a guy who won't be afraid to go off. Can't wait until he gets his first sample of that quality American refereeing.

Back to the match. Patrick Viera delivers a beautiful blast of a game-winner courtesy of a nice pass from Adriano, who just might find a way out of the funk. As good as Inter looked, and as red-hot as Roma is, I had to look up the schedule to see when they will meet. They already played once (Inter won 1-0 on Sept. 20), with the return leg set for Feb. 4th in Milan. Mark your calendars.

And while we're on the subject of marquee matches in the future, Manchester United travels to Stamford Bridge to meet Chelsea on April 14th.

One other match I caught some of was the Colombian League match between Millonarios and Cucuta. Friend and one-time MetroStars assistant coach Juan Carlos Osorio is coaching Millonarios these days and it really saddens me that he and Octavio Zambrano (now coaching in Moldova) have had to head far from the US in order to get head coaching opportunities. If I could be an MLS GM for a day I would hire Osorio in a heartbeat. In fact, the MetroStars were set to hire him in 2003 before AEG stepped in and helped Bob Bradley slide over from Chicago. If FC Dallas or Kansas City had a clue they would make an inquiry about Osorio, but they won't. That said, if one of those teams doesn't hire DC assistant Tom Soehn then MLS has more problems than I thought.

Back to the match. Osorio's team lost 2-0 and I stopped watching about 15 minutes in. Colombian league soccer really is mediocre. Yes, there are some skilled players, but anyone who thinks it can rival MLS from a technical standpoint is nutty. There's a reason Sergio Galvan Rey is practically mini-Maradona whenever he plays there.

That's all for today. Monday is almost here and it's time to get back on the Red Bulls transaction trail.

Comments

[Tim]

Interesting observations from weekend's play. Thanks.

[Michelle]

Greetings,

I am very impressed with the content of this blog. I was wondering if you ever write any opinion pieces about sports or just game coverage?

michelle@sportingo.com

[Josh]

Well, at least there's no way the officiating in MLS will be as bad as the officiating in POR-NED this summer.