Weekend Match Guide: Goodnight, Michael Owen edition
The matches to watch after you realize Michael Owen gets to return to what he does most — getting operated on and not playing football. But he’s totally not injury-prone, you guys!
Saturday
Fulham v Tottenham at Craven Cottage (FA Cup quarterfinals) — Both sides are littered with injuries. Should Fulham win, they’re going to need to hit up Mapquest because the trip to the semifinals would mean their first Wembley visit since 1975.
Real Madrid v Sevilla at the Santiago Bernabeu — Sevilla sporting director Ramon “Monchi” Rodriguez is on to Real’s strategy to unsettle oponents by claiming interest in their top players. Now Florentino Perez has to hit him with a giant bag of money until he forgets.
Roma v AC Milan at Stadio Olimpico — Well, Davey Becks is getting the start so you know Milan mean business. Speaking of Davey, the rumor is that he’s buying George Clooney’s lake Como home for €30 million. But the MLS still claims he’ll return to America.
Cologne v Bayern Munich at RheinEnergieStadion — OK, league-leading Bayern should roll past 14th place Cologne, but any time you have Lukas Podolski playing against his former team, there’s the chance of seeing his cheeky facepaint intro. And that’s entertainment enough.
After the jump, Sunday’s matches and our expectedly unexpected video…
Sunday
Chelsea v Stoke at Stamford Bridge (FA Cup quarterfinals) — Back in the 1974/75 season, Stoke nearly pulled off a trio of victories against Chelsea, but a late goalkeeper goof up ruined it for them. Hopefully that last part happens again. Come on, Chels!!
Bordeaux v Montpellier at the Chaban-Delmas — Ligue 1′s two top sides in a very important match, especially with Lyon lurking just two points behind them.
‘Game on!’ for Vancouver Games crown
VANCOUVER, British Columbia – The United States is guaranteed to win 37 medals in Vancouver, not just the most in these Games, but the most ever by a single nation in the Winter Olympics. You could say the Americans have “won” the Olympics.
Canada is in third and will win 26 total medals. Thirteen of them are gold, though, four more than the Americans and the most of any nation here. It ties the record for the most ever, set by the Soviet Union in 1972 and Norway in 2002.
You could argue that if gold is best and Canada was best at winning them, then Canada “won” the Olympics.
How can we settle this? How about with a hockey game – say 3:15 p.m. ET on Sunday, between the USA and Canada and not just for the gold medal in that sport but for the unofficial title of 2010 Olympic champions?
“The whole Olympics?” U.S. forward Ryan Callahan said with a laugh. “I don’t know if I want to add that pressure to us.”
The entire debate over who “won” the Olympics is foolish, of course. Skeleton has nothing to do with snowboarding which has nothing to do with speedskating. These are “teams” by birth certificate only.
This is what the Olympic committees of various countries do, though. They set medal goals, they hype their success and they try to explain away their shortcomings.
Canada made a highly publicized $118 million investment in its “Own the Podium” campaign, predicting it would win 30 medals, enough, it thought, to finish first overall. When early success didn’t materialize, it backed down from its bold talk and started holding apologetic daily press briefings.
Turns out they said sorry too soon. They may not own the podium but they got comfortable in the penthouse. “Obviously, ‘Own the Podium’ worked,” said Kevin Martin, Canada’s gold-medal winning curler.
While Germany, with 29 total medals, will finish second in the total medals race, the debate over who had a finer Olympics comes down to two – Canada and the United States.
It’s the perfect ending that they play in the final competition of the Olympics in the sport that generates the most interest in the Winter Games. (It’s predicted it will be the most watched hockey game ever on both sides of the border.) The competitors aren’t particularly interested in the overall title, but they understand it’s out there.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Canada coach Mike Babcock said. “We’d like to do it for the country but we’d like to do it for ourselves first.”
And this from a guy who doesn’t even win a medal – only athletes receive the jewelry, not the coaches.
“We’ll let the fans argue over that,” U.S. forward Chris Drury said. “I’m sure both countries are pretty happy with how it’s worked out medal-wise.”
They should be. This has been a glorious few weeks for both nations. Canada threw a great Olympics, showcasing its modern, beautiful West Coast city and watched its athletes soar to unheard of levels of success. Meanwhile, the United States, once a winter weakling (it won just six medals in 1988), is now the standard bearer on snow and ice.
“I think the U.S. was mainly known as a Summer Olympics country,” defenseman Ryan Whitney said. “It’s been great here being part of the most successful U.S. team in history.
“We’re a good measure of it. No one expected us to medal. We weren’t a favorite.”
The Americans certainly weren’t. The nicest term anyone used to describe the hockey team was “darkhorse.” Many thought general manager Brian Burke built a young team to gain seasoning for the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia. Burke ended that rumor at a team training camp last summer in Michigan.
“I told them, ‘Anyone who thinks they are here to prepare for Sochi please get up and leave,’ ” Burke said. “We’re going there to win. That was our goal.”
The Americans have been the dominant team in this tournament. They’ve never lost and never trailed. They even upset the powerhouse Canadians last Sunday on their home ice at the end of pool play.
Now they’ll have to do it again.
On Saturday, the Americans practiced and continued to note the strength of the high-powered Canadian team. By average NHL salary, the Canadians make $3 million more per man than the Americans. They have a league MVP in Sidney Crosby. Canada Hockey Place will be packed and popping, 98 percent in red and white. The bars, restaurants and streets downtown will be packed all day.
“We should win,” Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said. “Man for man, our team is the superior team.”
The Americans shrug at it all, though. They have Ryan Miller, the game’s best goaltender in net. They have confidence in improved play from up and down the roster. And they have maintained a simple attitude: Each man was brought to the team to play a specific roll.
These aren’t even the 23 best American players. These are the 23 American players Burke believed would make the best team.
This isn’t an all-star team. This is just a team.
“I don’t think we’ve had to manage egos,” Burke said. “We’re not asking 30-goal scorers to be grunts. We brought grunts.”
To a man, Burke’s players loved that description. It’s a badge of honor. So too is that “USA” across their chest, trying to live up to the gold standard of USA Hockey teams of the past – 1960 in Squaw Valley and 1980 in Lake Placid, The Miracle on Ice team.
“The Americans watch that [movie],” laughed Babcock, the Canadian coach who has two American-born children due to his time in the NHL. “My kids think it’s great. I don’t think it’s that great.”
Someone is going to be a legend Sunday. The stakes are that high. The focus and attention is considerable. It’s the biggest hockey game in the history of North America. It’s the USA vs. Canada, wrapping up an Olympics where the two nations cast such a dominant shadow.
It couldn’t end better. Turns out, everyone has won in these Olympics. So let’s play a little hockey for final bragging rights.
Liddell working out naked brings up so many questions
A weird video of a man that appears to be Chuck Liddell working out popped up at the Big Lead today. He does a short workout in what looks like a home gym with his girlfriend. Not weird, unless you consider that they’re both completely naked. (Well, they’re both wearing shoes.)
This video brings up so many questions. First of all, why? Secondly, is the camera man a crazy, obsessed fan? How is this person still alive? Did Chuck know about the video? But most importantly, who works out in the nude?
UPDATE: To the shock of no one, the video has been removed from Youtube.
UPDATE OF THE UPDATE: The video is back up.
Palace docked 10 points
Crystal Palace went from outside bets for a Championship play-off spot to the fringes of the relegation zone when the Football League confirmed they had been docked 10 points.“Following receipt of confirmation that Crystal Palace has gone into administration, the Football League can confirm that a sporting sanction of 10 points will apply with immediate effect,” a statement said.
Palace, who lost 2-0 at league leaders Newcastle United on Wednesday, were placed into administration on Tuesday.
Highly-rated striker Victor Moses was pulled out of the squad for the trip to Newcastle because he is one of the south London club’s most saleable assets.
Palace’s penalty leaves them in 21st position in the table, just three points above the bottom three.
Suspected cruciate blow for Dempsey
Clint Dempsey faces an anxious wait for the results of a scan after suffering a knee injury in Fulham’s Premier League defeat at Blackburn.
The Texan-born 26-year-old, one of the mainstays of the US squad which will face England at this year’s World Cup finals, left the field midway through the second half and his manager Roy Hodgson fears it could be a serious injury.
“The initial prognosis for Clint is not good,” Hodgson told the BBC. “It looks he has suffered cruciate knee ligament damage which if he has keeps him out of action for a while.
“We won’t know for certain until the scan is completed on Monday but the doctors are normally very good at diagnosing these things and that was their prognosis.”
Dempsey, who has scored seven goals this season, is the latest injury blow to Fulham who are already without Bobby Zamora with a collarbone injury.
“It’s a concern, especially up front,” said Hodgson. “We think that Clint Dempsey, as an all round player, is very useful for us.”
The Boston Celtics pile misery on Nets
The Boston Celtics rebounded in the fourth quarter to beat the New Jersey Nets 96-87 on Friday and hand the NBA’s worst team their 13th consecutive road loss.The Nets held a one-point advantage going into the fourth quarter but the Celtics’ Eddie House scored all 10 of his points in the final session as Boston ran out winners.
“That’s our mentality. Feed the pig, whoever has it going,” said Rajon Rondo, who had 17 points and 11 assists.
Coach Doc Rivers had put House, Glen Davis and Rasheed Wallace on the floor with Rondo and high scorer Ray Allen to ignite the Celtics. And it worked.
The unit went on a 14-4 run and had the game under control before starters Kevin Garnett, Kendrick Perkins and Tony Allen returned.
House had Boston’s first five points of the quarter to put the hosts up by two and they never trailed again. The reserve guard made it 84-77 with his second three-pointer and 10th point in six minutes.
Ray Allen scored a team-high 26 points as the Celtics recorded their third win in a row.
“We thought that we could just outscore them,” Celtics coach Rivers said.
“I didn’t say much at halftime. I basically said, ‘I don’t think I need to talk. We’re a defensive team and tonight we want to outscore them.’ And I said, ‘Good luck.’”
Still, the Boston defense remained lacklustre until the fourth, according to Rasheed Wallace.
“We didn’t pick it up probably until about the six or seven mark in the fourth,” he said.
New Jersey’s fifth consecutive loss meant they dropped to 4-45 for the season.
Brian Lopez had 19 points and Devin Harris 17 for the visitors, who could wind up with the NBA’s worst record in a season. Philadelphia holds the record at 9-73 for the 1972-73 season.
“I expect a lot more out of myself,” Lopez said. “It’s tough going against them because they’re so physical and talented.”
LeBron leads Cavs past Raptors
LeBron James sparked the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 108-100 home victory over the Toronto Raptors.James narrowly missed a triple double with 28 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds, while Mo Williams added 22 points and 10 assists as the Eastern Conference’s top team won for the fourth time in five games.
Cleveland (32-11) held a 95-94 edge late in the fourth quarter before breaking away thanks to Williams’ three-pointer and capped by a James dunk.
James, the league’s reigning MVP, made four successive free throws in the final minute to clinch the win.
“They gave us a little trouble in the first half but we were able to slow that down (in the second half). We were a bit more physical on the defensive end,” James said after finishing with three steals and three blocks.
Chris Bosh paced the Raptors with 21 points and 10 boards while Andrea Bargnani added 19 as the visitors fell to 21-21 on the season.
Toronto opened the season with a win over Cleveland that dropped the Cavs to 0-2. Since then, Cleveland have hit their stride and taken over the East, while the Raptors are battling for a play-off position.
Cleveland’s Shaquille O’Neal had 16 points and surpassed the 28,000-points mark for his career, the fifth player to do so.
“The only fallback for me is that I missed like 5,000 free throws,” O’Neal said. “If I would have at least hit half of those, then I would be at 30,000 right now.”
Gasol helps Spain to Euro title
Pau Gasol starred again as world champions Spain added the Eurobasket title to their collection, defeating Serbia 85-63 in Katowice.After helping the LA Lakers to the NBA crown Gasol produced a succession of stunning performances in Poland, despite a slow start to the tournament.
Final rivals Serbia were simply no match as Spain – who won the Olympic silver medal in Beijing last year – dominated from the first quarter.
Star centre Gasol was unstoppable, banking 18 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks.
In the first quarter he alone out-rebounded Serbia and it was no surprise when he was mobbed by his team-mates on the final whistle.
“I’m so proud of my team-mates and grateful to all the coaching staff that got us to this point,” said Gasol, whose team were almost dumped out in the group stages by Great Britain.
“I’m so happy to help Spain win this title for the first time. We started the tournament slowly and we were not playing collectively.
“But the last five and a half games we have played amazingly well. We came together when it mattered at the end of the championships.”
Greece – winners four years ago – claimed bronze with a 57-56 victory over Slovenia.
Sofoklis Schortsanitis produced a stand-out hardworking performance, banking a 23-point haul.
“I’m very proud of my players,” said Greece coach Jonas Kazlauskas.
“In this short time we did a great job with a new team that had only three players with experience at such a level.”
Round-up: Greece set up Spain semi
Greece set up a EuroBasket semi-final with world champions Spain after a dramatic 76-74 overtime victory over Turkey in Katowice.Jonas Kazlauskas’s team looked to be through in regulation until a lay-up by Turkey’s Ender Arslan in the dying seconds forced added time.
Arsian then had a chance to win it but missed a three-pointer with the last throw of the game.
Greece’s win also secures them a place at next year’s World Championship, which Turkey will host.
“We never stopped believing that we could win this game,” said Vasileios Spanoulis, who banked 23 points and drained six three-pointers.
“This is a new team, with a new coach, new players and new ideas but we still made it to the top four at the EuroBasket and that’s a big thing for us.”
Slovenia will play Serbia in the other semi-final following their 67-65 quarter-final win over Croatia.
In-form Erazem Lorbek, who played all but 40 seconds of the match, top-scored with 27 points and eight rebounds.
Croatia will need to pick themselves up for Saturday’s play-off with reigning champions Russia, with the winner booking their place at next year’s Worlds.
Defender Alex Pearce pens Royals deal
Defender Alex Pearce has committed his future to Reading by signing a new contract which will keep him at Madejski Stadium until the summer of 2013.The Royals were keen to keep the highly-rated 21-year-old, whose contract was due to expire in the summer. He follows fellow Academy graduates Gylfi Sigurdsson and Simon Church in signing a new deal.
Director of football Nick Hammond said: “I’m delighted we’ve reached an agreement on this new contract for Alex. He has become an integral part of our squad with his performances on the pitch and also shown great maturity for a young man.
“Securing the young talent at the football club is key to our long-term future. We have signed a number of players to new contracts recently and that is vital for what we want to achieve as a club.
“They are young men who are still finding their way in the game but the experience they are gaining at this time will be invaluable for their futures.”
Pearce said: “It feels good to get it sorted and know I’m staying here for the foreseeable future. It’s a fantastic club with high ambitions and I’m very pleased to be a part of it.”
