Lionel Messi, Barcelona on a tear

7 02 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90bUC6Eh0Oc&feature=fvstIt seems so easy for someone so small.

Lionel Messi can’t stop. He won the Footballer of the Year award a few weeks ago and then went to score a hat trick against Atletico Madrid just the other day. Like it was no big deal.

By way of the three goals, he jumped over Cristiano Ronaldo as the top goal scorer in the Spanish La Liga with 24 goals, 2 more than Ronaldo — in 2 fewer games.

In an amazing run by the little Argentine, Messi has scored an amazing 40 goals in 33 games — nearing his already-amazing total of 47 goals in 53 matches last season.

Wow. Words cannot even describe the tear that he is on.

He isn’t be a “pretty boy” like Ronaldo and crave the attention that Ronaldo needs. Messi just steps on the field and turns it into magic without caring about anything else. Of course, he struggled in the 2010 World Cup with his country, Argentina. He didn’t have the same support that his FC Barcelona teammates give and so he didn’t shine the way he was expected to shine.

But with Barca, he is able to create things and beat defenders in ways that do not seem real to the naked eye. He has a great supporting cast, as the attacking combo of Messi, Pedro and David Villa have scored 50 goals in La Liga so far this season.

And get ready for this:

That 50-goal total surpasses the total of any other team in the Spanish league this season.

After watching Messi sprint past his defenders, your jaw will drop in awe and amazement at what this little 5-foot-nothing (OK, 5’6” to be exact) footballer does. He will beat 5 defenders in a full sprint up field and before you know it, he could be back in his defensive end tackling the other team’s forward before he gets a shot off. It is absolutely incredible.

 Messi slithers past defenders, leaving them literally running into each other as they are blinded by the trail he leaves. The Barcelona fans bow down to him every time he scores, as he is looked upon as a near-God.

If he is not a God, he definitely has a bid in the “Soccer God” voting for me.

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Categories : La Liga

EPL game of the day: Chelsea vs. Liverpool (2/6/11)

7 02 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diMLYEFOomYWell, it was the most anticipated match of the weekend, Chelsea vs. Liverpool, and while Luis Suarez remained out of the starting lineup for the Reds,  the Blues put Fernando Torres straight into the starting lineup against his former team. While Torres’ attacking counterpart, Didier Drogba, slid the Spaniard through toward goal in the first half, his shot was blocked clear of goal from the stretching leg of defender Jamie Carragher. Unfortunately for Blues fans, that was the first and really the only chance their team would get. Maxi Rodriguez nearly put the visitors up with a wide open tap-in that hit the cross bar and careened away from the goal mouth, keeping the score tightly fixed at 0-0. But finally Raul Meireles volleyed a difficult bouncing ball past Chelsea keeper Petr Cech to put the Reds up 1-0 — a score which would stay until the final whistle. But with all the eyes on Torres, he did not disappoint. The combo of him, Drogba and Nicolas Anelka up front was supposed to be lethal. It wasn’t.

  • Besides the one chance in the first half, Torres looked like a lost puppy on the field, unable to find a comfortable spot on the field to create space from his defender and attack Liverpool’s back line. He was subbed out in place of Salomon Kalou after 60 minutes of play.
  • Anelka may as well have been called Casper, the friendly ghost with his disappearing act throughout the game. His impact was limited. He was unable to find a rhythm from the start and was often found deep underneath the strikers rather than high and wide in the positions he’s most dangerous in.
  • Drogba worked hard, but he was rarely rewarded by himself or his teammates with scoring chances. He was not the attack-minded player that we are all used to seeing from him.

So, at least for today’s game, Drogba + Anelka + Torres = FAIL.

Maybe the next game for Liverpool will bring better results after the players gain a better understanding for each other during more practices. Only time will tell.

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Categories : English Premier League