If all Wednesdays are like that one, then mid-week specials should become a more prominent feature of the EPL’s schedule. ‘Cause after yesterday’s fireworks, there must be something to this whole playing under the lights thing.

Where to start? Let’s go with the best GAME, first, which also included one of the top goals of this year. Perhaps we should have known it would be special after David Bentley’s stunning 40-yard volley for the opener. Count Manuel Almunia as a shocked witness to that piece of brilliance, and it would only be the beginning of a tough night for the Arsenal keeper.

I arrived at a pub at the start of the second half to meet some friends, and luckily it was pretty evenly divided among the two teams in terms of support. What a half – six goals, a two-goal comeback by Tottenham starting in the 89th minute. The roars were deafening, and goals were so frequent it was like a boxing match, left, right, left, left. Those are the games we sit around praying for, and when they come you can’t tear yourself away.

Of course Arsenal will lament the defending near the end that allowed Jermaine Jenas the space for his sublime strike to make it 4-3, but for the neutral viewer this was one to remember. When Aaron Lennon deposited the rebound in the final minute of stoppage time, my friend looked over and told me not to die after seeing my expression. This could end up the game of the season.

And meanwhile, we had the reemergence of Cristiano Ronaldo with a brace at Old Trafford in the...read the rest at:

http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m10d30-Breaking-down-a-crazy-Wednesday 

By now, most people have heard that Seattle Sounders FC has signed Swedish star Freddie Ljungberg for their first season in the MLS next year. By nabbing the former Arsenal star as their designated player ($2.5 million a year), Seattle is now set to enter next season with two certified stars: Ljungberg and local boy Kasey Keller.

This can only mean good things for a club that looks like it will have MASSIVE local support from the moment it steps on the field. In Ljungberg, they now have an international face for the club who is just 31 years old and still has some solid years left.

On top of that, Seattle has sold more than 17,000 season tickets and has a supporters group looking to grow quickly. As the team’s owners have said, this club looks like it will hit the ground running and figures not to be an ordinary expansion team struggling its way through the first couple of seasons. As a Seattle native, I can tell you that the excitement has been....read the rest at:

http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m10d30-Anticipation-in-Seattle-heats-up-with-Ljungberg-signing 

What is this? Liverpool standing up in the face of adversity and winning at Stamford Bridge? Liverpool alone at the top? Liverpool winning without Fernando Torres?

I mean, good heavens. If Liverpool wins the league, what universal laws can we trust in anymore? Because I had the Reds failing to take the Premiership title right up there with gravity, or at least the chance that Cristiano Ronaldo ever plays a game without a full bottle of hair gel atop his scalp.

But it’s true – the streak at Stamford Bridge is over, and with a one-nil victory Liverpool becomes the first team since February 2004 to go in there and come away on top in league play (86 games unbeaten by the way– how incredible is that).

They did it with a deflected shot from Xabi Alonso in the 10th minute, and then managed to hold on the rest of the way for the victory even without El Nino up front to provide the decisive scoring touch.

It was a fun, tension-filled game to watch. Liverpool came out with some nice sequences of possession and buildup, but they rarely had the ball. Despite the rather fluky goal, for much of the first 20 minutes Chelsea floated beautiful balls from one side of the field to the other and felt out the Liverpool defense with some style.....read the rest at: http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m10d26-Chelseas-streak-is-over

Football’s a funny game, and one that often brings the most unexpected, freakish incidents to the forefront. The best team doesn’t necessarily win, as we find out all too often. Such aggravating occurrences often bring heartache to one team, and on Saturday it was the Colorado Rapids who were forced to come to grips with a horrific lapse in the 90th minute that allowed Real Salt Lake to claim a draw that put them in the playoffs and kept Colorado out.

One minute away from reaching the Promised Land, Colorado managed two shoddy clearances that led to a scramble of headers near the box, and suddenly RSL had a shot on goal from point-blank range that led to Yura Movsisyan’s rebound goal of salvation.

While it’s rough to be a Rapids fan right now, such an outcome isn’t that much of a surprise. In a Western Conference that gave us a lecture in Logjam 101 all season, it figures that a spot would come down to the last minute......read the rest at:

 

http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m10d26-90th-minute-disaster-ends-Colorados-season 

Things we never thought we’d see: a man on the moon, Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor, a vice presidential candidate spending $150K on clothes…..

However, Hull City sitting at No. 1 on the Premier League table has to be pretty high up there. Take a nice, hard, long look, and if you’re a fan, you oughta cut out today’s table and frame it. With 20 points in their first nine games, Hull sits at the top with Liverpool and Chelsea.

Yes, they have played one more game than those other two mega clubs, and yes, tomorrow’s meeting between the two makes it impossible for Hull to stay atop with an even number of games, but come on. Soak it in, because in this day and age of big money, stories like this don’t come around very often.

Hull has won its past four games in the Premier League, including away at Arsenal and Tottenham. And after returning back home this weekend, they cleaned up West Brom today with a three-nil performance to keep the magic carpet ride flying high for the time being. With a ticket in hand to next Saturday’s Hull/Man United game, I can’t wait to see what they’ll come up with at Old Trafford after silencing the Emirates.....read the rest at: http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m10d25-Hull-City-is-first-in-the-EPL-and-no-thats-not-a-joke

I would have paid a significant sum for a glance in the Manchester United locker room after Saturday’s draw at Everton, since Sir Alex must have said something to the extent of “what in the world happened?” –that being the edited version, of course.

After grabbing a Darren Fletcher goal in the first half to sit on top one-nil at the half (when it could have been more, as the announcers pointed out), it was a different United team on the field for the second 45. As the crowd got into it and the home club responded, you could visibly see the Reds shrink from the atmosphere. Can’t say I’ve seen that happen in a while.

There was former Everton player Wayne Rooney, who was not as active and came out soon after the questionable decision to kiss the United patch on his jersey while holding it out from his body. With the crowd already at a fever pitch, you have to think that’s not really the time for such a move.

But it was there on the field, too. Wes Brown simply overran a ball that led to a good Everton chance, and Rio Ferdinand tried his best to gift the go-ahead goal by nearly whiffing a back-pass to Edwin van der Sar, leaving the keeper on his own from point-blank range where he managed to parry the shot just far enough wide to bounce off the post.....read the rest at: http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m10d25-A-different-Manchester-United-in-the-second-half

So I was in Prague this past weekend, which has to be one of the most beautiful cities on the planet. Naturally, I had to go check out the local football action in town, but unfortunately AC Sparta Praha was out of town for the weekend. Still, I managed to locate the stadium’s whereabouts and walked my way out to the north of the city center. While in a much less scenic part of town (what isn’t compared to the Charles Bridge & Co.), AXA Arena is a fun little stadium to check out.

The place was dead, but by giving the security guard three bucks I managed to secure a little tour with one of the stadium employees. Stupidly I forgot a camera, but here’s a picture I came across that should work for the purposes of this entry. A cool place to watch a game, and I liked how small it was (just over 20,000). You can imagine how intimate the atmosphere must be, and I loved how people living in the tall apartments at the end of the stadium could totally just watch the games out their window.

But by far the most entertaining part was when....read the rest at: http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m10d22-Taking-cover-in-Prague

Manchester United and Arsenal had the statement games last night for those of you who tuned in, with 3-nil and 5-2 victories (the latter being away), respectively. United certainly controlled their game against Celtic, but the visitors surely had reason to gripe that both of Dimitar Berbatov’s goals came from the offside position (although the first was a deft little touch for the score).

But the real story is Wayne Rooney, who looks more dangerous every night and now has an absurd nine goals in his past seven games for United and England. This time it was a sweet little shake near the top of the box to get himself space and then a clinical finish just inside the left post. Hope people caught his expression after that one – the impish grin that says, “Hey guys, I’m feeling it right now in case anyone hasn’t noticed.”

Sir Alex said after the game that Rooney is capable of reaching Cristiano Ronaldo’s 42-goal level of 2007-8 (that level, not that number), but that might be a little much. Still, he’s on fire right now for sure....read the rest at: http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m10d22-Champions-League-discussion

Could anything excite Sky Sports more than a David Beckham fiasco?

Just plant his face square on TV, get 80 million different clips and opinions on his situation….you can tell they’ve run through this routine before. Maybe twice.

And yes, there is good reason for the theatrics today, as Beckham has once again found himself as the top headline with a possible January loan to AC Milan in order to stay fit (please check out that link and Soccernet’s photoshop with Beckham in a Milan uniform. Hysterical.).

The positives: Beckham stays fit now that his MLS season is over, keeps himself in the England mix during the MLS offseason (Fabio Capello has said he needs to do this is he is to be considered for the national squad) and gets some undeniably better competition than in the MLS. And imagine a Kaka, Ronaldinho, Beckham combination in the middle when he plays – pretty entertaining to think about.

Who knows how much he will play at Milan, but there’s no doubt that his right foot still has plenty of juice left in it, and it’s hard to imagine him......read the rest at: http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m10d22-Beckham-to-AC-Milan

It was one crazy night in Madrid, and one certified nightmare for the linesmen – who shouldn’t be calling any Champions League games for a while.

Liverpool looked strong in the first half in the midfield (despite a terrible-looking pitch in terms of both speed and footing), and Steven Gerrard’s cut-throat pass down the middle to a slightly offside Robbie Keane gave them the early one-nil advantage.

In addressing Liverpool’s season as a whole this looks like a strong midfield, and the addition of Albert Riera has been a helpful one. Still, once Gerrard went out in the 61st minute (a curious decision if it was not for injury), Atletico Madrid seemed to find themselves a bit and started applying pressure.

But the linesmen had the biggest say in this game. Yossi Benayoun was clearly on when his goal was disallowed early in the second half, and Madrid were subsequently called off twice – one for a goal that was scored – despite being well back of the last man each time. Inexcusable decisions on those last two, as there wasn’t even a question.

Still, the home team claimed their deserved equalizer thanks to a slip-up from Jamie Carragher on a long ball and a beautiful shot from Simao into the right corner. Credit to Madrid, who didn’t allow their subpar first half to affect them too much and showed some nice possession in the second half...........read the rest at: http://www.examiner.com/x-642-Soccer-Examiner~y2008m10d22-Liverpool-slips-to-a-draw