The Curious Case of Hoffenheim

A fairy-tale story is being hatched in the Bundesliga

Spiegel Online gives an account of how this tiny team made it to the top of Germany's premeir league.

Few in Germany had ever heard of tiny Hoffenheim before this year. Now, though, the village club team is at the very top of the country's professional soccer league. On Friday night, they clash with powerhouse Bayern München.

World Cup Goals

To the tune of "Everlong"

A Wonderful Day in Football

Ello all,

Isn't it great when all the work is done and you can sit down and just chill out?  I am finally finished studying and I took the day off to do what I do best - laze around and watch football.

And what a day it has been.  First, I woke to read that Toronto FC have signed a club favorite, Dwayne De Rasario.  What an amazing signing for the club. Not only is he an outstanding player, but also a local hero.  He will surely become a fan favorite.

I caught 3 games today. Yep.  3 games in one day.  JACKPOT!

10am Manchester City 0 - 1 Everton

What looked like a promising game from the start turned out to a scrappy stalemate.  Both City and Everton came out guns-a-blazing firing shots on net and playing some really nice end-to-end football.

Robinho showed a little bit of magic but once again his teammates incompetence (mostly all except for Wright-Phillips and Ireland) prevent City on really capitalizing on anything.

The two sides slugged it out through the second half and the game got uglier and uglier as it went on. Robinho was substituted for fear of an injury and it seemed certain each team was satisfied with a draw at this point.

But as it happens many times in football, the unexpected occurs.  Just as Everton were nicked 3 points in the closing seconds of the game last weekend by Aston Villa, this time David Moyes's men salvaged 3 precious points from Tim Cahill's last minute header.

What goes around comes around! Sorry Mr. Hughes.

12:30pm Tottenham Hotspur 0 - 0 Manchester United

This was a mesmerizing game that I really couldn't take my eyes off of.  The midfield work by both sides was outstanding and the constant booing of everyones favorite aloof Bulgarian striker made it all that more enjoyable.

The crowd really must have got under Berbatov's skin, because once again he failed to find the net on another occasion.

What really stood out in this match for me was 2 things:

• Gomes made some outstanding saves.  Perhaps he is starting to come out of his shell, and Spurs might not have to start searching for a better keeper come January.
• What if Luka Modric started scoring goals?  This guy could be so dangerous if he found the net.  Think Frank Lampard Euro 2004.

Overall it was an amazing game and Spurs stood firm to go into the Christmas season with the dignity of showing the world that they are much better without Berbatov.

Here are the highlights.

4pm  Barcelona 2 - 0 Real Madrid

El Classico was amazing.  The sheer quality of Barcelona has been awe-inspiring this season.  These guys have it all this season: strength, agility, speed and pure dynamism.  

Their ability to tackle and win the ball while losing possession on the attack sets them apart from any team out there now, and Messi is consistently showing that he is 100% pure class.

After a penalty was awarded, and Casillas made a set of outstanding saves.  He seemed to be the only thing working on Madrid though, and it was only a matter of minutes before Eto'o found the net, followed by an injury time goal by Messi to put the nail in the coffin for Madrid.

The Only Champions League Game that Mattered

Today at least...

Watch Chelsea V CFR Cluj in News Online | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Chelsea did it. And with Drogba?!

He sat on the bench and rolled his eyes, then came out and scored within a few minutes. Good on ya!

Worst Dive Ever. Worst Refereeing Ever.

Villa 3 - 2 Everton

Other Weekend Highlights:

WBA - Portsmouth

Hull - Middlesbrough

Stoke - Newcastle

Arsenal - Wigan

Chelsea 2 - 0 Bolton

Watch Bolton v Chelsea in Sports Online | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

gallas to miss wigan

I cant really comprehend why so much controversy has been surrounding William Gallas for simply speaking his mind.

The ex-Arsenal captain has been reported to miss this weekend's clash with Wigan Athletic, which is an extremely crucial game for the Gunners as they can only pull of results against the top 4.  

This is a crucial flaw about Arsenal, they are a team with such class and flare, but this simply doesn't give results.  Other, less attractive teams like Chelsea have always had these kind of internal conflicts, and players like John Terry have always been vocal about players not pulling their own weight.  Why strip your most experienced player of his arm-band, further isolate him in the dressing room and lose what little stability you have at the back in the process?

Arsen Wenger's favoritism to young talent needs to stop somewhere.  This is football, and when you are a team of Arsenal's potential it is more than healthy to voice concerns about the effort of his team members.  And what is more despicable, Gallas's insubordination off the pitch, or his team-mates on-pitch hissy fits.

It is a shame that Wenger and the Arsneal team were to quick to cast aside the wisdom and stability of a seasoned veteran like Gallas to side with these hit-or-miss youngsters. Kudos to Wenger for sticking to his vision, but I am sure he will feel the pressure to qualify for the Champions league much harder at the end of the season if he looses this key defensive piece.

Although Wenger is a genius at growing young home-grown talent, the departure of Gallas would be a rough blow to the Gunners already wavering stability.

New Toronto FC kits

Toronto FC's new kits were unveiled today.

These ones have a collar! And one of those "sweet" embossed images (in this case a maple leaf) on the front of the shirt, a sartorial flourish which ceased to be stylish around the time when Eric Cantona was ninja-kicking Crystal Palace supporters.

Here are the new shirts, modeled by Rohan Ricketts and Greg "Not Protected in Expansion Draft" Sutton:


Meh. They're alright- a little underwhelming. I was hoping for something a little more audacious and bold, something closer to the Jorge Campos look. Or the MLS of old.

Huntelaar to Madrid

Well, it was inevitable.

Ajax striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, the best Dutch player still in the Eredivisie (and Ryan M fave), was signed by Real Madrid yesterday for a cool 27 million Euros. Huntelaar will replace the injured Ruud van Nistelrooij at Madrid, and will join countrymen Royston Drenthe and Arjen Robben, as well as fellow Ajax alums Rafael Van der Vaart and Wesley Sneijder, at the Bernabeu. Madrid has officially supplanted Barca as the home for crazy Dutch talent in La Liga. Meanwhile, my beloved Ajax continues to serve as a nursery squad for the big clubs in Europe...

Anyways, this is why Huntelaar was signed: SWEET GOALS

weekend highlights

Chelsea 1 - 2 Aresenal.

Man United 1 - 0 Man City

The New Deal for Newcastle United

This photo sums up what has been going on in the EPL as of late.  Last weekend saw the entire top 4 draw without a single goal.  Now similar shinanigans are happening this weekend and in the Champions league as well.

Maybe its the cold weather, maybe its thoes lazy strikers, but I tend to think there has just been a lot of great defending.

A prime example, and a player that I want to highlight as one of my favorites to watch since the season began.  This is none other than Newcastle United's Fabrizio Coloccini.  I watched this guys defending against Manchester United at the begining of the season and truly beleived he was going to be a crucial part success for Newcastle.  He's big, fast and lanky and is an absolute brick wall for any kind of cross comming inside the box.  Using a skilled defensive line, Newcastle have been able to draw 2 points from their away encounters at both Standford Bridge and Old Trafford.  

Many people beleive the Premier League is about the big-four clashes, but in many cases this certainly isn't true.  Being able to grind out these kind of results away are what is keeping Newcastle above the relegation zone and preventing the big four from actually gaining ground on each other.  Its a dangerous way of playing, and by no means is it entertaining for the fans, but I beleive that what makes a team or a manager is their ability to know when to sit on the back heal and weather the storm.

So I have advice for the folks at St. Jame's park.  Defend for your lives boys.  Thats right, bard up the doors, shackle it up and get ready for a long seige.

Everyone knows the piles of problems going on at Newcastle.  From the managerial problems, boardroom problems and the fact that Joey Barton (everyones favorite scumbag) is now injured.  The only good they can really do is to just go Greek style and put all men back and hope for the best.

So in light of this, I have compiled a buying list of what the ideal Newcastle side should be come the January transfer window:

There are a number of reasons why this works for Newcastle:

a) You aren't scoring any goals now, so what's the bloody difference?

b)  If you turn Richard Dunne around, or get him to run backwards maybe he will score goals on the apposing goal instead of his own goal.

c) Defenders are CHEAP.

Gypsy King

Good evening my friends. I've been on this thing called Facebook. And somehow I think the guys who run the place have finally started leaking all my personal information to companies. Yeah, like we didn't all see that coming from a mile away. Either way, I have been getting frequent requests for my Premier League Picks.

And I did it.

Now press play on the Youtube video above and become lost in the music as we delve into this weekends action.

Look into my Crystal Ball....loook deeper...deeeeeeper...

I see Liverpool and Chelsea continueing their winning streaks. Yes!

I see Villa tieing Man U and Hull are going to upset Pompey!  

I see the boys at Tottenham getting their winning ways back!

Okay lets snap out of it and look at my predictions for the weekend:

Now, I am going to go through this list on Monday and post my stats to see if I am any good at this. If its anything like my Fantasy Football skills, I will probably looking very much in the red.

Thank god I'm not a gamblin' man.

Either way, if I get all of these right, I think someone should buy me a delicious meal and watch a game with me on the weekend!

Tuesday Triple Sampler

Keeping with Mondays silly post on Rory Delap (well not that funny if your an Arsenal or Villa fan), I scrounged up some more football bloopers.

I think its much better to look at this stuff mid-week than all the lame transfer drama and managerial jargon. If you notice, I don't concentrate on that stuff. Never have and hopefully never will.

I found these all on viralvideochart.com, which is one of my favorite new websites. Its great for finding whats popular on Youtube.

Here are some of this weeks favorites:


1. Stupid Silly Goals

2. 2 Goals in 30 Seconds

3. Chris Iwelumo misses open goal

Muscley Arms

If you haven't been looking at Stoke City, and haven't seen there secret weapon. Let me bring you up to speed:



Seeing how its Monday morning and I have a super busy day I am going to share with you some funny photoshop jobs on Mr. Rory's muscley arms and absolute throw-in power.  Enjoyeeee!

PHOTOS THAT MAKE YOU LAWL

A Thrilla from Villa

Earlier this week, Michael Essien publicly criticized Arsenal, say they were all style, no substance. Couldn't agree with you more, sir. You called it!

Enough about Arsenal though, lets talk about Villa.

Villa played this game very well. In all aspects they looked like a great team. Offensively they were all over Arsenal, comfortable playing the game in front of the Aresenal goal as well as maintaining a rock solid defence. An early attempt by Gareth Barry showed the strength and versatility this team has.

Everyone talks about how "beautiful" Arsenal's passing is, but today Villa look much more stylish and displayed way more strength in the midfield. And nothing is more ugly than sloppy defending, which was the cause of both of Villas goals:





Its a shame Villalost to Newcastle a couple of weeks ago because this team has so much potential of breaking the top 4.

A Culinary Guide to Football

Top of the Mornin' to you.


Ahead of another weekend of Premier League action, I want to discuss some of the best of the best foods to pig out on while watching a game. These are a list of the top 5 foods to eat out at a pub, in a stadium or standing on a street corner watching the game through the window of a local television store.

5. English Breakfast / Pint of Ale / Cup of Coffee

This is the favorite of the North American soccer viewer. In order to catch lots of games, we have to drag our ass to the pub early in the morning. Arriving as early as 8am on a Saturday sometimes a greasy breakfast + a coffee + a pint of beer is perfect for watching any English or Scottish league game. Coffee does wonders in cleaning your pallet each time for a wonderful taste sensation of a piss-warm English ale. MMm mmm good!

4. Burek

Whether you are preparing for a football riot on the streets of Belgrade for the next Red stars game, or sitting in with your Nana having a cuppa tea and watching the game on the flat screen, this eastern-European treat is a versatile and delicious snack. Again greasy as hell and probably goes well with beer. The best thing about this is that its shaped like a pizza, but the ingredients are so plain "meat, pastry" that you wont be distracted by the wacky colours that a pizza offers. That means more time analysing every touch Arsenal's midfielders have on the ball so you can perfect your Fantasy League score.

3. Kebab

Meat on stick with the spice for life. No matter where you are in the world you will be able to find it. Whether you're asked to watch your wife's little cousin play at some pitch out in the suburbs, or if you are downtown Munich I guarantee there WILL BE A KEBAB PLACE within 5km.

2. Big Chicken Salad

Trick your friends and make them think you are concerned about your weight and health! Hell, they might even think you are a decent soccer player. Say something like " Yeah, I gotta playoff game this afternoon" or "There's like 30g of protein in this shit".

1. The Beef Dipper

Beef on a baguette has been my favorite football-watchin' food for a long time. Its simple, bland, full of great useless carbs and is served with a side of the juices it was cooked in. It is also very contagious. Usually whenever someone orders this, 2 or 3 other people queue in to get one. This meal is defiantly a team player.

Get well.. Mr. Hume

After suffering a near-fatal head injury during a game with Sheffield United, the Soctland-born and Brampton native is getting better. He has moved out of the high dependency ward of Manchester Hospital yesterday and all our hopes and prayers are here for him

Get well sir.

Nick'n the Top Spot

I was having problems at the start of this years EPL season trying to figure out who was going to be this years top scorer.

I mulled it over. Surely it will be Torres. Last year he made such a dazzling debut with Liverpool and by the end of the season last year it seemed that he had some unfinished business to take care of. Then he began a lengthy stint of riding the pine.

Okay, so its not Torres. Well, it must be Adebeyor! With his cheetah-like speed with sniper rifel accuracy I was sure he would net at least 10 or 15 by now. Then Arsenal got into a rut, lost some games and he got injured.

Who else Drogba? No wait, he's injured. Rooney? Was looking hot for a while but Man U is in some weird transition phase.

Let me get to the point.

I never thought Anelka would be top of the table right now. BUT HE IS. He has manged to put together 10 goals thus far and although none of them have been sensational or jaw-dropping, his consitancy remains somewhat of a mystery to me.

I had a full beleif in this Chelsea side this year, but I always though the goals would be comming from the middle with players like Lampard, Joe Cole, Deco and Ballack. When the Robinho transfer saga was over, I was sure that Chelsea were doomed up front. But some how, some way, Nick Anelka has been consitently pulling through and has creeped to the apex of the EPL top goals list.

I think the reason why so many people have overlooked Anelka in the past is because he doesn't show off. He isn't the guy who is going to crack the ball into the back of the net.

Here is a perfect example of Anelka's cool, calm scoring style (while he was back at Bolton):

Not the net-shattering stuff you will see from players like Wayne Rooney, but you have to hand it to the guy. He is clever. He knows when to turn on the gas, how to keep his cool when a keeper charges out and has the restrain to finish without a bang.

He scored a hat trick against Sunderland the other week with his sneakyness.

So the sneaky Frenchman has not brought the kind of shwashbuckling football players like Drogba, Torres and Adeybyor do but has showed that a striker can play with sly positioning cunning intelligence to bring himself and his team to the top of the table.

Arsenal 2 - 1 Man U

Videos for your life.

I missed the game today, but I heard it was a great match and that Arsenal are back into their swing!

Arsenal 1 - 0 Man U


Arsenal 2 - 0 Man U : This is what happens when you give the Gunners time to dance around outside the box:


Arsenal 2 - 1 Man U

MAMA MIA!