Picture courtesy of manutd.com

Oh Survival Sunday! Waking up this morning, so many people were all excited/nervous/anticipating today. The final day of the English Premier League promised a lot and with all outcomes, I think it’s safe to say it delivered.

It was a huge day for teams on the bottom looking at regulation. But on the opposite end of the top, the craziness of the title race had captivated a lot of attention. The EPL title would go to Manchester at the end of today, the question was, however, which side? Would it be blue or red?

For their last match of the season, Manchester United traveled to the Stadium of Light to face Sunderland. Looks like an easy game on paper right? Well, I know I didn’t think Sunderland would go quietly and let United walk all over them. It is the last game of the season after all. Each team was going to give their all to fight for their spot.

In the first half, Manchester looked good and settled. Passing was good and pressure even better. Sunderland’s defense stayed strong in the first 20 minutes or so, but United’s midfield and strikers slowly began to pick away. Sure enough, holes began to appear in the Sunderland defense and the Red Devils took advantage.

It’s no real surprise it was Wayne Rooney who would make a cheeky little header into a small space left open by Sunderland’s Simon Mignolet. It was a nice little goal too, as Roon headed it in off a wicked bouncing pass.

It was much of the same through the next 25 minutes – pressure on the back line from Rooney, Phil Jones, Ashley Young and Ryan Giggs. When the whistle blew for the half, United should have been up 3-0, with the hattrick going to Rooney. But it was only 1-0, a little nerve wracking I have to say.

The second half started out all Sunderland. Whether the fear of regulation or just of losing period stirred them, Sunderland came out pushing hard for a goal and almost had one several times. With the crowd letting the teams know what was going on in Manchester between City and Queens Park Rangers, both teams pressed on.

As the clock wound down, United picked back up their pressure. Slowly but surely, they started to crack open the Sunderland back line all over again. But that second goal was just as elusive. The minutes ticked by, but United held on and the final whistle blew with United still on top, 1-0.

About 45 seconds later, however, the stadium let the teams know City had scored in stoppage time and won the game, and the title.

You have to give props to the Red Devils though. They had to have known what was going on through the game, and yet they kept fighting until the end. They could very well have bowed out and let City just have the title, but they couldn’t just do that, could they?

However, I have to point out where United’s fault was this season – the midfield. They had to bring Paul Scholes out of retirement. That says a lot. What I hope United draw from this is they need to firm up their midfield. Sir Alex Ferguson needs to spend a little money, bring in a midfielder that can be the anchor of the team, like Scholes does.

United also need Vidic back. While the back line wasn’t completely horrid this season, there were too many games where United dropped needed points by allowing teams to come back and tie or even defeat them. Vidic is a beast in the center for United and greatly missed.

And Sir Alex needs to keep Valenica, Young and Jones starting. Those three have earned their places this season and have speed and talent needed. SAF is known for working hard on molding young players into great stars. It’s time he started using them more. Just as Scholesy is going to be leaving again, Ryan Giggs will be leaving soon, and that’s just the start. United definitely need to capitalize on that young talent waiting on the bench.

In the end, the season is over and it’s time to think about the next one. United have the summer to mull over a lot of things, and come back to remind their “noisy neighbors” United don’t go quietly into the night.

Thanks for sticking with Aerys Soccer through the English Premier League season! We’ll keep you updated on trades, news and more through the summer and the start of the 2012-13 season in August!

Coming into the day, Manchester United held a five point lead over Manchester City in the league table, and hoped to extend it against a struggling Queens Park Rangers.

QPR, on the other hand, were fighting for their lives, desperate to stay above the relegation zone.

The match ended as most would have expected: an easy 2-0 victory for the Red Devils. Unfortunately, getting to that result was full of controversy from the start.

For the first 13 minutes of the match, United were in control, dominating possession and setting the tempo. It was a matter of when, not if, they would score.

In the 14th minute, Ashley Young went down in the box, fouled by QPR captain Shaun Derry. Derry was shown a straight red, and Wayne Rooney converted the penalty kick.

But it was not nearly so cut-and-dry. Before he received the ball, Young was offside. The foul itself was questionable, as Young went down easily and theatrically. Certainly not worthy of a red card. Not a single United fan would tell you that first goal was deserved, in fact I was quite embarrassed. While the game was always going to be a United win — QPR just doesn’t have what it takes to defeat them — it’s unfortunate that the match was ruined early on by the referee’s poor decision.

Facing a 10-man side, United really took over. Despite many chances, it wasn’t until the 68th minute that the Red Devils would strike again. Of course, it was none other than the Ginger Prince, Paul Scholes, cracking one from 25 yards out. 2-0 United.

At the final whistle, it was another three points for United, extending their lead over Manchester City in the league table. Eight points clear.

Manchester City takes on Arsenal this morning in a must-win match if they want to have any hope of catching United.

QPR will be fighting for survival for the remainder of the season, but with a tough stretch of games to close out, relegation is looking more and more likely.

Stay with Aerys Soccer for all your EPL news!

Photo courtesy of Sporting Life

You’ve got to love soccer if only for the craziness it brings about off the pitch. In today’s DKA, we’ve got you news about the USMNT U23s next qualifying, Real Madrid’s new resort island (I’m not kidding), Sir Alex Ferguson firing back taunts at Manchester City and more!

It’s your Daily Kick Around!

English Premier League

What would English football be without Manchester United and Manchester City going at each other off the pitch? I know, I know – there are a great number of other things that make the EPL fantastic, but there is something about the two teams handing each other jibes in the press that is very entertaining, whether you like the teams or not. Take this week for example. Former MCFC player Patrick Vieira fired off that Sir Alex Ferguson must have been pretty desperate to call back midfielder Paul Scholes out of retirement. SAF had a few choice words to say about that:

”If you talk about desperation, they played a player the other night who refused to go on the pitch, the manager said he’d never play again and he takes a five-month holiday in Argentina. What is that? Could that come under the description of desperation?”

As a MUFC fan myself, I would have to agree with the boss. However, I love to laugh at little stories like this. It just isn’t a normal EPL week without the smack talk, right?

Speaking of bringing Tevez back, Diego Maradona – one of Argentina’s most legendary players – is taking a little credit for Tevez’s return to the EPL. Apparently, Maradona told Tevez a few months ago to get his butt back to England, not only because he was losing money, but he wasn’t playing. And a footballer not playing is … well, let’s admit it, pretty useless.

Today’s matches:

Chelsea – Tottenham
Arsenal – Aston Villa
Bolton – Blackburn
Liverpool – Wigan
Norwich – Wolves
Sunderland – QPR
Swansea – Everton
Stoke – Manchester City

La Liga

It really wasn’t the best of weeks for Real Madrid. After the dismal display against Villarreal, the team was informed defender Pepe would receive a two-match ban after insulting a ref during the game. Coach Jose Mourinho and midfielder Mesut Ozil will both get one-match bans after being ejected from the game as well. Hey, but the bright side? One of Sergio Ramos’ yellow cards was overturned, so he’s free to play this weekend.

But you know another good way to end a bad week? You could open your own island resort. Yup, I’m not even making this up. Real Madrid announced Thursday they would be building a gigantic resort island based in the United Arab Emirates. Check out this video.

http://youtu.be/1WYBtaiPyfg

This place is going to be massive, with luxury hotels, villas, a marina, an amusement park and sporting facilities.  Oh and it’s going to have an open stadium to the ocean with hologram football games. That’s right, hologram football games. It’s supposed to open in January of 2015 and is going to cost around $1 billion to build. So if you Real Madrid fans are excited about going, I would save now because I suspect this trip will break your bank account.

Major League Soccer

If you are familiar with MLSsoccer.com’s daily Kick Off feature – which is just like DKA! A link dump for all the biggest stories in MLS – then you’ve probably noticed the missing coffee mug graphic that had adorn the page for more than a year. Well, MLS would like to inform you, the Kick Off mug has retired and headed off on vacation … and you can follow him around too on his own twitter account.

Today’s matches:

Toronto – San Jose
Columbus – Montreal
New England – Portland
Real Salt Lake – Chivas USA
Vancouver – DC United 

USMNT Olympic Qualifying

It was quite the rout Thursday night in Nashville as the U23s tagged a 6-0 win against Cuba. But a tougher challenge could await them tonight as they take on our neighbors to the north, Canada, at 7 p.m. ET.  The USMNT lead their group right now; check out the scenarios for the boys for the semifinal round of qualifying!

Happy Tuesday everyone! A lot is happening in the soccer world. For example, waking up this morning to news that USWNT’s Alex Morgan joins the Seattle Sounders Women in the W-League, realizing that this week is busy for international friendlies or that Ashley Cole has his own opinion on England teammate John Terry. All that and more in today’s Daily Kick Around!

USWNT

After the dramatic downward spiral that is known as the suspension of the 2012-13 WPS season, the USL W-League club Seattle Sounders Women have officially added their third USWNT player by bringing in Alex Morgan. Morgan now joins her national teammates Hope Solo (who is a Sounders supporter) and Sydney Leroux, who joined the Sounders last month. Alex Morgan will now play in the same city as her boyfriend, Servando Carrasco, who plays for the Seattle Sounders in the MLS. Welcome to Seattle ladies!

International 

There’s three international friendlies being played today. For all the fixtures for today as well as tomorrow click here!

The England National team attended the England Footballers Foundation Lions and Roses Charity Dinner last night and posed for a team photo with Ashley Cole standing directly in front of John Terry, blocking him from view. Was this done on purpose or not? Probably not.

English Premier League

Despite rumors of a rift between Chelsea’s Frank Lampard and manager Andre Villas-Boas, AVB hopes that the England midfielder will continue wearing blue next season. On Saturday, Lampard became the only Premier League player to hit the double-figure mark in goals, showing his manager how much of a key player he really is.

There’s no doubt that Ryan Giggs and newly unretired Paul Scholes are United’s best players, perhaps even legends. And manager Sir Alex Ferguson has made that clear. Both men scored against Norwich City with Fergie praising the two gents in a post-match interview.

Scholes and Giggs are the best players this club has ever had. We could have played him against Ajax on Thursday but this game was more important and I knew we would need all our experienced players and Ryan and Scholesy in particular. That experience is really going to help us in the next couple of months.”

Fabricio Coloccini has yet to renew his contract with Newcastle after some disagreements in terms. The 30-year old insists to supporters that he wants to stay and hopes to be a part of any plans Newcastle will bring in the future.

Serie A

Lesson to all soccer players out there: If you punch someone, you will get banned. AC Milan defender Philippe Mexes has been banned for 3 matches following his attack Juve’s Marco Borriello Saturday. At first, Italian refs didn’t see the incident but the league reviewed the match, calling it a violent misconduct between the former Roma teammates.

La Liga

Not only was Cristiano Ronaldo’s amazing back-heel goal the highlight of Real Madrid’s match against Rayo Vallecano Sunday, but apparently so was Sergio Ramos’ elbow. It’s never an entertaining match unless Ramos gets a yellow, but in this case, he was lucky it wasn’t a red. Ramos elbowed Rayo’s Diego Costa right in the face. Ouch!

There wasn’t too much of anything to write home to your mother about the Manchester United match against Norwich City this morning. Well, maybe two things.

United needed the three points to keep up with Manchester City on the table and with a late strike in stoppage time, true United fashion, they were able to pull it out 2-1.

But like I said, it wasn’t too much other than a typical little fear Manchester United wouldn’t come out on top. But thanks to two legend Red Devils, United left the pitch victorious.

The first strike came from Paul Scholes in the seventh minute. An open cross from Nani landed in the box – and to the head of a waiting Scholes. I have to say, I’m use to seeing cracking shots from the Ginger Prince, but a damn nice header to the bottom left did quite nicely.

And that…. was about there was to report from the first. The half ended 1-0 but it should be said, as a United fan, I felt on edge with just a one-goal lead. Always trust your gut.

The second half started out tedious. It ticked away, until the 83rd  minute, when David De Gea conceded a corner to Norwich. Zak Whitebread took the shot for Norwich and lobbed it in to Grant Holt, who used his left foot to get the ball past De Gea. Suddenly, United fans were very nervous.

However, we were saved in the dying minutes of stoppage time by none other than our Welsh legend, Ryan Giggs. Giggs was making headlines already by making his 900th appearance in a United kit; it would only make sense he would close out the deal.

It was a great three-pass play. Patrice Evra started it, flicking the ball to Ashley Young, who set up Giggs nicely. The Welshman tapped the ball with his left foot from the right side of the box and it was 2-1 United. The whistle blew shortly after that and the Red Devils were breathing a sigh of relief.

It was definitely a day for the legends at Carrow Road. I’ve already heard and read a bunch of people calling United lucky with this win, and in a way they kind of are. But their luck is having fit, top-notch players like Ryan and Paul. If you’ve ever seen these guys play before, you know it’s just business as usual for them to step up when the moment is needed.

Stay with the ladies of Aerys Soccer today as we get you recaps of the North London derby, a recap of all EPL scores and your soccer headlines from around the world!

So, Manchester United v. Bolton. At Old Trafford. After Manchester’s lackluster and rather disappointing last shows in the EPL, fans were hoping for a little reprieve today in the form of a solid win. Bolton, being in the bottom three of the table, wanted to be the next miracle team to beat up on the Red Devils.

Manchester United's Paul Scholes celebrates after scoring his first goal back with the Red Devils.

Surely by now, you know Manchester United won 3-0. And you probably have heard about Paul Scholes’ first goal in his return to the Red Devils (during the dying minutes of the first half, by the way), the wacky goal from Danny Welbeck off a Wayne Rooney stumbling pass and Michael Carrick’s sweet skipping shot into goal, so I’m going to try a little something different here. I’m calling it “Keep This, Fix That.” Instead of telling you what you probably already have read on ESPN about the game’s outcome, here are my thoughts on what worked for both teams and what they probably need to look at.

Manchester United, Keep This: That amazing, glorious, wonderful, awe-inspiring passing in the first half. Seriously.

Example: Third minute – Michael Carrick lifted in a beautiful pass from midfield to a waiting Danny Welbeck who only had Bolton’s keeper Adam Bogdan to beat. It didn’t result in a goal, but the pass, just gorgeous.

And that was just in the third minute. It didn’t stop from there. Passes from United within the first 10 minutes were absolutely gorgeous. From Rooney to Nani, Carrick to Welbeck, the movement off the ball in the midfield to push up to goal were encouraging signs from the Red Devils and great to watch.

And it just continued through the first half. Beautiful, fluid passes to players who were coming up to meet the ball and stay with it to run on goal. Even Paul Scholes got a chance to fire off one of his famous cracking shots from at least 20 yards out (didn’t result in a goal, though. Scholesy return goal came from a scramble in the box during the last minute of extra time in the first half. He was completely unmarked when Rooney’s pass landed at his feet and he notched it in the back effortlessly).

It’s the type of passing you want to always see from your team, through a whole 90 minutes.

Bolton, Keep This: Adam Bogdan. I don’t know what you’re feeding your keeper, but damn, whatever you’re doing, keep it up.

This man was on his game all 90 minutes.

When his back line was out in God knows where, Bogdan was there to clean it up. He came up big when Rooney stepped up for a penalty in the first half, not only reading the striker perfectly, but confidently punching out the shot.

You could see Bogdan’s confidence build through the game. From the first, big save where he came way out of his box a little timidly to the massive blocks he stacked up against Rooney and Welbeck’s shots, Bogdan stepped up for Bolton today. It’s hard for a keeper to be tested like that again and again and keep his line, but Bolton fans can praise their keeper.

Yes, Manchester United got three goals into the back of his net, but that really shouldn’t take away from the great performance this keeper put in. On his A game, with a solid defense backing him up, Bolton could shake up the EPL a bit. Yes, that’s how strong Bogdan looked between the posts.

So, don’t look at the score line and think Bolton’s keeper didn’t do well, because that is quite the opposite. Bogdan actually saved the Wanderers quite a few times today.

Manchester United, Fix That: Stay concentrated on the game in the second half (oh, and finish on goal too). I don’t know how many times I’ve seen this happen to United. They come out to start a match strong; strong passing, great midfield, pushing against the opposing back line. Then the second half comes along and it’s like they all look at each other and go, “Eh. We’ll just sit back on this one.”

This is not a good strategy. I don’t know what you have to do to fix it, I don’t know how to get it in their heads, but something has to be done. Yes, I know. They won 3-nil, with two goals in the second half, but that’s not really the point, is it? Compared to the first half, the second was scrapy. To be successful, to be a strong, solid team, you have to have two strong, solid halves in a match. And one thing that has been following United like a bad plague this season is the fact they rarely have an entire 90 minutes worth being excited about.

(Oh, and finish in the final third! Please, please, be on target and get that ball in the back of the net!)

Bolton, Fix That: The back line. Yes, three goals were let in, but that was by chance of God and keeper Bogdan. It could have very well been five or six.

I understand the need to push up and help the midfield when the situation is dire, but too often than not, when Manchester made runs toward Bolton’s goal, the defense was sprinting to get back to defend against the attack. There were even times that Mark Davies, a midfielder, came back to make some defensive moves for Bolton.

You have got to get a solid back line to keep on guys like Nani, Rooney and Welbeck. Giving them space to make passes like they were will hurt you in the end, as Bolton found out with the three goals leveled against them. A keeper can only do so much, and Bogdan more than did his job today. Defense needs to help him out.

All in all, it was a decent match to watch. Manchester United were solid enough and Bolton could have done worse (they had a few great, heart-stopping runs in the second half that made things interesting). While the match doesn’t help Bolton in any way out of the bottom part of the table, the three points will definitely bolster United as they continue their quest against City for the top of the table.

Saturday EPL Results:

Aston Villa 1 – Everton 1
Blackburn 3 – Fulham 1: This is a surprising resulting, considering Blackburn were down a man after
Yakubu Aiyegbeni received a red card in the 23rd minute.

Tottenham 1 – Wolves 1
Chelsea 1 – Sunderland 1
Liverpool 0 – Stoke 0
West Brom 1- Norwich City 2

Wayne Rooney scored a brace in United's 3-2 defeat of Manchester City.

When Manchester United and Manchester City were paired up in their third round match of the FA Cup, fans salivated at the thought of adding another Manchester Derby to the soccer season. And as usual, it did not disappoint.

Before the game even began, news of Paul Scholes coming out of retirement for United sent shock waves through the footy world. The “Ginger Prince,” as he is affectionately known as by MUFC fans, will finish out the season with United, and was on the bench for today’s FA Cup match.

United didn’t waste much time getting on the scoreboard, as Wayne Rooney powerfully headed home a cross from Antonio Valencia in the 10th minute, giving the Red Devils an early 1-0 lead.

Just two minutes later, the ref made a decision that would change the course of the game — one of my biggest pet peeves in soccer, even if it was a decision in United’s favor. Vincent Kompany went in for a tackle on Nani, and while it was two-footed, he got all ball and none of the leaping Nani. The ref issued Kompany a straight red card, putting City down to 10 men in the 12th minute of play. With a one goal and one man advantage, it was the Red Devils’ match to lose.

In the 31st minute, Danny Welbeck scored a beauty of a goal, volleying the ball into the far right corner and giving United a 2-0 lead.

At one point in the first half, the camera showed David Beckham in the stadium, taking in the match from a box seat with his kids. With Becks watching and Scholes on the bench, I had flashes of the Class of ’92 running through my mind.

A few minutes before halftime, Rooney locked up a brace, scoring on a deserved penalty kick. His original strike was saved, but he followed up the rebound and calmly finished it, giving the Red Devils a 3-0 going into the halftime break.

It seemed like United had the game locked up, even with 45 minutes to go. A three-goal lead and a man advantage had to spell victory for the visitors. But City had other plans. In the 48th minute, Kolarov scored off a brilliant free kick just outside the 18, completely fooling United keeper Lindegaard.

Then in the 64th minute, Sergio Aguero pulled a second goal back for City, leaving them just goal down to United with about 25 minutes to go. It was very much “game on” at that point.

Despite a lot of chances, with two in particular in the dying minutes, City just couldn’t break through and find the game-tying goal. Manchester United all but gave away a three goal lead, but somehow managed to hold off a tough Manchester City squad.

United moves on to the fourth round of the FA Cup, while City turns their focus solely on the race for the EPL title.

Stay with Aerys Soccer for all your FA Cup coverage!

Photo courtesy of Sporting Life