O'Donnell's Observations: Worldwide roundup
by Paul O'Donnell
The Semifinals of USL-1 will see former Barons making substantive contributions in both ties with Ryan Heins and the Rochester Rhinos facing league champs the Puerto Rico Islanders. Tony Donatelli and the Montreal Impact will face his former team the Vancouver Whitecaps in the other semi this weekend in another battle for bragging rights in Canada and a berth in the USL-1 Final.
Montreal notched another win in the CONCACAF competition with a 2-1 victory at CD Olimpia (Honduras) to take the lead in Group C. In a 2-2 thriller Group D leader Puerto Rico conceded an 89th minute goal to Municipal in Guatemala City for the draw.
Meanwhile MLS side DC United fell 1-0 to Cruz Azul (Mex) at RFK and has yet to score a point and remain dead last in Group A. Houston Dynamo and Pumas (Mex) played an 8 goal thriller in Mexico City that ended 4-4. The match saw Houston take a 2-0 lead in the first 15 minutes to shock Pumas then 5 more goals would be scored in the opening 45 that ended 4-3 in favor of Pumas. Craig Waibel nodded in his 2nd of the game for the final scoreline and the point on the road for Houston (2nd in Group B).
UEFA's premier competition had the midweek attention of soccer fans around the world and Arsenal provided the fireworks with a resounding 4-0 victory over FC Porto behind 2 each from Van Persie and Adebayor at the Emirates. The Gunners rebounded nicely from their stunning loss at home last weekend to Hull City to put concerns aside.
Man United produced an emphatic 3-0 win on the road over Danish side Aalborg. Rooney opened the scoring for United and Berbatov got his first for the club in the 55th and another in the 79th for the final scoreline. Rooney took a knock and will miss the weekend match with Rovers at Ewood Park but should be good to go next week for England and their World Cup Qualifiers.
Celtic's horrid record away from their home ground in Champions League action added another chapter in their 1-0 loss to Villareal. Celtic has won only 1 point in their last 16 UCL games away from Parkhead.
Real Madrid got the match winner from Van Nistelroy in a 2-1 victory over Zenit in St Pertersburg to hold the top spot in their group.
Draws abounded with none likely to be more significant than Bayern Munich 1-1 Lyon. The draw would be the only point earned by a French side in this round.
Liverpool produced a dominant performance over PSV at Anfield on goals from Torres, Keane (his 1st for the Reds) and Gerrard's 100th from a free kick. The Reds, leading 3-0 and in cruise control conceded late for the final 3-1 score.
Chelsea's trip to Romania ended badly as they were held by Cluj 0-0 and they may have lost Drogba to injury again who was stretchered off early in the 2nd half with what may be knee ligament damage. Drogba has been trying to regain match fitness after a lengthy stay on the injury list but he now rejoins Joe Cole, Deco, Caravalho and the lost for the season Essien on the sideline. Looking ahead to the weekend the Blues will entertain 3rd placed Aston Villa at the Bridge with top spot and their long home unbeaten run on the line.
Speaking of tough times; Jose's bad week continued as Inter only managed a 1-1 draw at San Siro to Werder Bremen.
Elsewhere Messi's brace provided the margin of victory for Barca 2::0 Shaktar Donestk and it was Bordeaux 1::3 AS Roma and Atletico Madrid 2::1 Marseille, Sporting Lisbon 2::0 FC Basel and Famagusta 3::1 Panathinaikos.
In UEFA Cup action Tottenham got by Wisla Krakow 3-2 on aggregate. The sputtering Spurs limp through via an own goal and a 1-1 draw after their opening match lead of 2-1. Everton was sent out by Standard Liege on a 79th minute penalty and 2-1 (4-3agg) scoreline while Pompey surrendered their 2-0 advantage from the first leg, then got two from Crouch in extra time to go through at Guimaraes. Aston Villa goes through despite the 1-1 draw on a Marlon Harewood strike (his first of the season) and Shaun Wright-Phillips fired the winner for Man City for a 2-1 victory (4-2agg) over Omonia Nicosia. A goal from Shevchenko put AC Milan through with a 1-0 win (4-1agg) over FC Zurich in UEFA Cup action.
Looking ahead to the weekend in the EPL the most intriguing and perhaps significant match is Chelsea-Aston Villa. The Blues are thinned by a lengthy injury list. Will Villa show they are strong enough to sustain a challenge for a spot among the top 4 or not? A further question is can Villa end Chelsea's unbeaten run at Stamford Bridge? Perhaps the more likely result is a draw which I believe would mean Villa is still on the outside looking in when it comes to that goal. This game is that big. Really.
Of lesser significance is Liverpool's visit to Man City but that would be hard to say to the supporters of either side. Expect the Reds to produce another flop; it is their nature. A draw might be in the cards here too.
Another one that is intriguing, but for reasons other than the hope for some good attractive football is Everton entertaining Newcastle. A 6th consecutive defeat for the Magpies could be on the cards while a bad display by the Toffees could signal the end of the era of David Moyes at Goodison Park. An important factor in this match could very well be the red card shown to Tim Cahill last weekend taking an big weapon off the pitch for Moyes. Lots of talking points here, especially considering the doings at Newcastle.
As if to put an exclamation point on the ongoing circus at Newcastle their interim manager shows up and no one from the club is there to meet him at the airport. To add insult he makes his appearance at the training ground to find no players; they had been given the day off, as if they had earned it from their performance of late (5 straight losses). Then he explodes in a deluge of expletives in a mad outrage aimed at certain members of the press for their demeaning coverage (he's right about that; its the delivery that will see him in trouble from the FA (deservedly so) you can be sure of that).
Many fans of Newcastle simply have to be wondering will the nonsense ever end?
