Weekend Recap: The Giant Killers

Saturday’s Games

US 2 – 0 Sweden. US Soccer is still trying to convince FIFA that this is, in fact, the USMNT’s 500th international game. We’re operating on the assumption that they’ll be vindicated here, so we’re officially saying Woohoo!! With this win, we’re .500 after 500! And Landon Donovan beats Eric Wynalda’s goal-scoring record at the exceptionally young age of 25! Go, Nats!! (And Eddie Robinson, pictured, scored in his USMNT debut. Yea, Eddie!)

Birmingham City 0 – 1 Chelsea. From what I hear, this wasn’t a pretty game, but in the end Chelsea got the job done, winning their fourth of four games and keeping their title hopes alive. Claudio Pizarro, who has not exactly been a superstar for Chelsea this year, put in a header in the 79th minute and that was that.

Portuguesa 2-0 Santos. Note to self: Never confuse a TV schedule with a game schedule. I pulled this one off a television schedule when I was under deadline pressure, only to discover that the game was actually played midweek last week. It was only being shown on Saturday. Oops, my bad. But it was a shock win, with Portuguesa just returning to the first division and Santos the defending Sao Paulo state champions. Let’s hear it for the little guys! More Brazil coverage at Brazil Offside.

Sunday’s Games

Udinese 0 – 1 AC Milan. First off, Milan fan Mele wants me to remind the universe that Milan is 12th in the table (or were before this game) only because they have three games in hand due to the World Club Cup. (Which they won, making them officially the top club in the world.) Consider yourselves reminded. As far as this game goes, Milan won late, and they didn’t win pretty, but they took the three points and that’s what counts.

Lens 3-0 Lyon. Who are these pod people and what have they done to my Lyon team? That’s two losses in a week for Ligue 1 leaders Lyon. Rare, and not what they need as they’re preparing for a Champions League showdown with Manchester United. On the plus side, Lens desperately needed these three points to escape the relegation zone, and they came through with a vengeance.

Ghana 2-1 Guinea. The African Cup of Nations is being played in Ghana, and the overwhelmingly Ghanian crowd made its feelings known. Just before the game, the Guinean captain yelled to his worried-looking team, “No pressure! Play like you’re at home!” And for most of the game, they did. Ghana was heavily favored but Guinea came through with gutsy play, keeping the game scoreless until Ghana managed a penalty in the 55th. Guinea put in an equalizer seven minutes later, and for most of the remainder of the game it looked like a draw was inevitable. It wasn’t. In the 89th Sulley Muntari delivered an unstoppable rocket, giving Ghana the expected (and deserved) win. Daryl live-blogged the action over at World Cup Blog, and also has game highlights and post-game thoughts.

Atlético Madrid 0 – 2 Real Madrid. The less famous and poorer Madrid sibling, Atlético, was done in by Real after going down the first goal in the first minute on a Raul tap-in. Their play got better, but in the end it was not good enough. Ruud van Nistelrooy scored a header right before the half, and that was all she wrote. Real stays at the top of the La Liga table.

Hearts 1-0 Hibernian. Meanwhile, in the Edinburgh derby, Hearts took it to Hibernian on a Velicka header. They haven’t played well this year, but now there is cautious talk that includes phrases like “turning the corner.” (But more importantly, did you know that Hearts’ lunatic owner, Vladimir Romanov, won Lithuania’s version of “Strictly Come Dancing” last month?)

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Category: Africa, African Cup of Nations, English Premier League, Europe, French Ligue 1, North America, Serie A, Spain La Liga, World Football