O'Donnell's Observations: Former Barons fall just short
by Paul O'Donnell
Former Barons Ryan Heins (Rochester Rhinos) and Tony Donatelli (Montreal Impact) saw their clubs win the opening leg of the USL-1 semifinals with the Rhinos defeating the champion Islanders 2-0 and Montreal's Impact getting their noses ahead of Vancouver 1-0. And both would see their sides lose that advantage and fail to advance in the 2nd leg as Vancouver beat the Impact 2-0, for a 2-1 aggregate win and Puerto Rico overcame the two goal advantage with 2 of their own then go on to win it in extra time 3-2. The Islanders will face Vancouver for the title next weekend.
Barons fans will also be pleased to note that Reading's Royals have moved to 3rd with their midweek 3-0 victory at Wolves. The Royals added to their recent good run and maintained their 100% record at home with another victory 3-1 over Burnley. Reading has outscored their opponents 10-1 over the last three games.
Roy Keane has done wonders at The Stadium of Light for the Black Cats with stealth buys during the summer and he has Sunderland playing at their best. Keane showed in this match that he learns his lessons well from watching the film of his opponents too.
The Cats had Arsenal on the ropes from an 85th minute strike from substitute Leadbetter who had come on less than two minutes before his goal.
It would have been a wonderful win except for a Cesc Fabregas header off a Van Persie corner kick in the 4th minute of injury time that rescued the Gunners for the 1-1 draw. Few would say that Sunderland did not deserve the full points but Wenger is crying about tactics.
Hull showed the league how to beat this Arsenal team and Keane's Black Cats learned the lesson from that game. Wenger should expect the same from most any other side in the league that actually intends to compete with his offensive minded team. Get into a running game with this Arsenal team and most EPL sides will lose that contest.
Two weeks ago Bolton tried to play them straight up and got into a running game and the result was an Arsenal win because that approach invariably opens space playing right into Arsenal's strength. Last week Hull showed the rest of the league how to beat them, so what does Wenger expect? He's got to get real. No manager in his right mind will go full bore attack minded against this Arsenal team since that kind of game plays right into Wenger's hands. He's all but saying its not fair because they won't play his game. Good grief.
Back to reality Man United got goals from Wes Brown (30') and Rooney (64') to pin Rovers ears back at Ewood Park in a driving rain. It was a competitive match before United's quality took control and limited Rovers ability to get a grip on proceedings and make a viable challenge.
Elsewhere on Saturday it was West Brom 1::0 Fulham and Wigan 0::1 Boro.
Bolton surprised with a 3-1 win over West Ham at Upton Park handing Zola his first loss in league play; Pompey defeated Stoke 2-1 on goals from Defoe and Crouch and Tottenham was beaten 1-0 at White Hart Lane, this time by the shock team of the year, Hull City. Last week it was a Geovanni wonder strike and this week it was the same man with a fantastic bending free kick that sealed the deal for the Tigers. Hull has now defeated the North London sides on successive weekends and now sit 3rd in the table. Expect the war dance for the scalp of Juande Ramos to be in full cry over this one.
As for surprises Liverpool's visit to Eastlands was one for the history book. City took a 2-0 lead in the opening half and looked headed for a solid victory over an ineffective and out of sorts Liverpool. The Reds produced only one decent chance in the first half which was squandered by Kuyt.
The second half was a different story as a brace from Torres and the match winner from Dirk Kuyt in injury time won it for Benitez 3-2. Kuyt's goal was his first in league play for 27 games and besides that it marked the first match in a very long time where Liverpool came from such a deficit to win an EPL match.
Liverpool has been very fortunate in the early going this season winning one at the death and getting a goal in stoppage time for a draw in another. As it turned out this match also had a substantive event go their way when a red card to Zabaleta in the 67th minute reduced City to ten men with the Reds on the short end of a 2-1 score. Six minutes later Torres notched his 2nd to knot the score at 2 before Kuyt's match winner in stoppage time.
The red card will surely generate some discussion pro and con as would be expected. Frankly, I would like to see the red shown for such ugly, two-footed challenges more often but since that is not the case when it is shown it causes controversy. That being the case did it really warrant a red? Not in my book. Did it affect the outcome? Absolutely.
Now, the more meaningful match of the weekend showed that Aston Villa is still not quite where they need to be as they went down to an injury depleted Chelsea 2-0 at the Bridge. The Blues got goals from Joe Cole and Anelka in the first half and were solid to the final whistle frustrating Martyn O'Neill and his Villains.
And finally some good news for Newcastle. The Magpies battled back from a 2 goal deficit for a point at Everton. While that won't satisfy many fans for long at least they stopped the run of defeats and to see them fight back to earn that point is a step in the right direction for sure.
In the MLS it is nearly certain that both the LA Galaxy and DC United will not make the field for the playoffs. The Columbus Crew defeated LA 1-0 and United was pummeled by Chivas 3-0. The Crew continue to lead the way with the most victories (16) and points (53) and with only three games remaining no one can catch them in either category. For the Crew that means a run in CONCACAF Champions League next season whether they succeed or not in the MLS playoffs since winning the Shield as the regular season champ earns a spot.
There's a smile on the face of Sigi Schmidt I'm certain of that. Recall that he was the man dismissed by the Galaxy in mid season with his team holding the top spot in MLS at the time. He now has his Crew on top of the heap and LA won't even make it to the post season.
