Goodbye QPR and Reading. These two teams have been officially relegated from English Premier League this weekend. Reading was just promoted to EPL last season, while Queens Park Rangers barely avoided being relegated. Most people had a feeling that QPR would get relegated, even in the first half of the season. The team has many talented players, but for some reason, they just weren’t able to get the results to stay in England’s top league.

Who else will join QPR and Reading? The three clubs fighting to stay in EPL are Wigan Athletic, Sunderland and Newcastle United. Personally, I hope Newcastle stays in EPL for another season. They have a lot of talent on that team and they can play some great football.

What else happened this weekend? Well, Liverpool won against Newcastle 6-0. Yes, you read that right. Liverpool won 6-0. Newcastle had an off day. This was Liverpool’s first match without Luis Suarez, who will be banned for 10 matches after biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic last weekend. Most people might have expected Liverpool to struggle, but that wasn’t the case.

While both Manchester clubs have qualified for Champions League next season, there are still two spots up for grabs. The three clubs fighting for those two spots are three London based clubs- Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal. I would love to see Chelsea and Spurs qualify. Juan Mata, David Luiz, Ivanovic and Gareth Bale are some footballers that I think are very talented and would like to see them playing in Champions League. Spurs missed out this season, due to Chelsea winning Champions League.

This weekend, the one match everyone will be watching is Manchester United v. Chelsea. Don’t miss out; that match will be on May 5th at 11 a.m. EST.

None of the “big teams” played in EPL this weekend; Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United all had FA Cup matches, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t any entertaining matches over the weekend! One of the most exciting matches if the weekend was Liverpool-Tottenham Spurs.

If you didn’t watch this match, you definitely missed out! Although I’m a City fan, I do occasionally watch Tottenham because of Gareth Bale. Also, because I’m a fan of Tottenham’s manager, Andre Villas Boas, ever since I watched him manage Chelsea last season. Most people probably expected Tottenham to win this match. After all, if you’ve been watchign EPL or Europa League, then you know that Tottenham has been playing really well lately.

Liverpool…well, not so much. Actually, you never know what to expect with Liverpool. One game, they might win 5-0, the next week they might lost 2-0 to a team in the relegation zone. Well, in this match Luis Suarez scored first to give the home team the lead. Tottenham went on to score 2 goals, but weren’t able to hold on to the lead and Liverpool came back to win 3-2.

A very surprising result this week was Queens Park Rangers at home against Sunderland. QPR won that match 3-1. Yes, you read that right, QPR WON 3-1! This match showed that QPR does have the talent to win matches, but it might be too little too late for them. They’re currently at the bottom of the table and it is very likely that they will be relegated at the end of the season.

Keep with Aerys Soccer for your EPL and La Liga round ups, and all your MLS news! And follow us at @AerysSoccer!

Two of the weekend’s biggest matches were Arsenal-Chelsea and Manchester United-Spurs. Neither of which involved my team, but I’ve got your recaps for you anyway.

First up, Arsenal v. Chelsea. I know there were a lot of people (Gunners mostly) who woke up early to watch this match. Since I’m not a Gunner or a Chelsea supporter, there was no way I was waking up at 4:45 a.m. to watch the match. Besides, the last time I woke up early to watch, Arsenal won and I didn’t really want to see that again. Then again, that was back when they had Robin Van Persie.

Anyway, this match was at home for Arsenal, most people probably thought Arsenal would win because Chelsea hadn’t been scoring as much as they should be. Well, that didn’t seem to be the case today. Fernando Torres scored first for Chelsea, but Arsenal was allowed to equalized just minutes before half time.

Yesterday, I had been talking to someone about the game and they asked me who I was rooting for. I told them Chelsea and I also said that it was because of Juan Mata. Who was it that scored the game winner for Chelsea? That’s right, none other than Mata! Of course I was happy; after all, both Chelsea goal scorers were Spanish and many of you know how I feel about Spanish footballers ( I love them). So the match ended 2-1 Chelsea and Arsenal’s unbeaten streak was finally broken.

Speaking of streaks being broken, Spurs also broke a streak of their own. They had a losing streak against Manchester United at Old Trafford. In fact, the last time they won was way back in 1989. Today, the Spurs got off to a great start. In less than 5 minutes, they managed to scored against United. My fave Spurs player – Gareth Bale – then doubled Spurs lead before half time. However, this is United we’re talking about; they weren’t going to go away without a fight.

Nani was able to cut the lead in half, but Clint Dempsey came along and scored Spurs’ third goal of the match and his first for his new club. But, a minute later United scored again. Even with “Fergie” time, though, it wasn’t enough. Dempsey’s first goal for Spurs would be the game winner. It was a great match (and victory) not only for Spurs, but also for AVB. I’ve always said that possession isn’t the most important thing in a match. Manchester United had 74-percent possession and they still couldn’t pull off a win.

In another match today, Fulham surprised Manchester City and their fans when they took the lead early on. They were awarded what many people thought shouldn’t have been a penalty, but the ref thought otherwise. Fulham scored and for most of the first half, led the match 1-0. Lucky for us City fans, Sergio Aguero was able to equalize before half time. Both teams kept trying to get another goal, but it looked like it was going to end in a 1-1 draw. However, Mancini out in Edin Dzeko and in less than a minute, he scored City’s second and winning goal.

Liverpool also took to the pitch today and won 5-2 against Norwich. No, that’s not a typo or a joke, that really happened! Sure, some might say it’s “only” Norwich, but it’s Liverpool’s first win of the season. Luis Suarez had a hat trick in this match, former Real Madrid player Nuri Sahin scored, and so did Liverpool’s captain, Steven Gerrard.   Not only that, but they have been playing much better this past week. If they continue playing like this, who knows, they might just end up in the top 6 this season.

Other EPL scores

Everton 3- Southhampton 1

Reading 2 – Newcastle United 2

Sunderland 1 – Wigan

Stoke City 2- Swansea City 0

On Sunday, West Brom will visit Aston Villa, while on Monday, Esteban Granero’s QPR will take on West Ham. That match will be on ESPN 2 at 3 p.m. EST.

The two biggest EPL games were both on Sunday- Liverpool v Manchester United and Manchester City v Arsenal.

I guess I can write about City-Arsenal game first. As a City fan, it was a disappointing game. It ended 1-1 and I’m sure Arsenal fans will be very happy with that 1 point. After the 3-2 loss in Champions League against Real Madrid, I was hoping City would turn things around and win their next match. This should’ve been an easy match for them; it was at home and they finally had Sergio “Kun” Aguero back in the starting line up.

City went ahead when they scored just minutes before HT.  Joleon Lescott scored in the 40th minute after a corner kick. Unfortunately, City wasn’t able to hold on to their lead and Arsenal equalized with less than 10 minutes to go. City hasn’t had such a problem scoring, what they need to work on is their defense. They let in 3 goals against Madrid and 1 today against Arsenal.

The other match, Liverpool-United, ended 2-1 in United’s favor. However, most people are saying Liverpool was very unlucky and that united shouldn’t have been awarded the penalty (which turned out to be the game winner).

Sunday’s matches and scores

Saturday’s matches and scores

It’s done. FINALLY.

The transfer window is finally closed and now we can move on. Or can we? There have been some crazy stories coming out of this transfer window. Whether it was the RVP signing or the D-Day craziness that has definitely had my head spinning, everyone has to admit, this next season in Europe is going to be quite interesting.

Most of the news you know, and as it’s Friday evening, I’m not going to beat a dead horse. But let’s take a moment to address the madness that surrounded Clint Dempsey. Would Fulham let him go? Where did his heart lie? It was drama at it’s best. Earlier today, there wasn’t anything certain. In all honesty, things were silent from everywhere. Then it exploded.  Aston Villa and Sunderland had bids out for the American, but they were turned down.

Then, with about five hours to go, Liverpool finally put in. Nothing from the Fulham camp. Clock ticking, suddenly Tottenham Hotspurs threw in their bids. And we waited. The more time passed, the more certain people became; Dempsey would be a Red. Imagine the surprise when Fulham not only rejected one, but two offers from Liverpool.

Suddenly, Tottenham weren’t looking so crazy after all. And in the end, this is what we would all come to see.

Yup. In the ending of our Deadline Day fairy tale, the American ends up at Spurs. It’s a “dream come true” according to Clint. And considering he’s always said one of his biggest dreams is to play in the Champion’s League, it seems a move to Spurs really is in his best interest.

Clearly, the opinions are mixed. But in the end, only time will tell. Come May, we’ll find out if this move really was a dream come true. Good luck, Clint!

With the return of EPL, that means more of our “honorary American”, everyone’s favorite British play-by-play man for ESPN.

It’s a monster Saturday for soccer, with the English Premier League back in action. There are a few noticeable changes both on the pitch and the sidelines from last year. Andre Villa-Boas now leads the Hotspurs as they’ll try to pay back Chelsea for knocking them out of the Champions League. Both Fulham and Arsenal are missing their leading scorers from last season, with Clint Dempsey still refusing to play for Fulham and Robin van Persie completing the transfer from Arsenal to Manchester United. Aside from personell changes, what are the key questions facing each club this season? Ian Darke, of course, has the answers. This and more in today’s Daily Kick Around.

English Premier League

Before we get to Saturday results, let’s look at the key questions for each club this season, courtesy of America’s favorite English soccer announcer, Ian Darke, for the newly branded “ESPN FC”. Darke’s first question was how Arsenal would fare without leading striker Robin van Persie, and after their season-opening match vs Sunderland, the question still remains, as the home team “enjoyed plenty of possession but lacked a killer instinct in the final third.” Fulham, on the other hand, had no trouble scoring without Clint Dempsey, drilling Norwich City 5-0 in their home opener. Manchester United fans can breathe a little easier, after the club rejected a transfer of Chicharito to Chelsea. Andre Villa-Boas was sacked at Chelsea last season before the club made a miraculous comeback to claim the Champions League title, bouncing the fourth-place Tottenham Hotspurs out of Champions League contention for this season. Now Villa-Boas, head coach at Tottenham, aims for payback as he will try to get the club back into the top four. He’ll have to do better than today’s result, however. The Spurs fell to Newcastle United, 2-1. Swansea City shocked QPR 5-0 at Loftus Road. QPR had hoped that many of their new additions would make an impact to help dig them out of last season’s basement, but it was Swansea’s new face, Miguel Perez Cuesta, aka “Michu,” who made the biggest impact with two goals to lead the Swans to the win. Liverpool hoped to make a statement in their opener as they attempt to return to the top of the tables, but it didn’t go as planned, as they fell 3-0 to West Brom, losing defender Daniel Agger to a red card in the 58th minute.

Major League Soccer

The Cascadia Clash is back, as Seattle takes on Vancouver this afternoon, but the Whitecaps will be without Barry Robson, suspended for “aggravated dissent” in Wednesday’s loss to FC Dallas.

Columbus Crew’s new DP, Argentina’s Federico Higuain, could be on the pitch for tomorrow’s match against the Houston Dynamo:

Warzycha said Higuain’s role will be fluid, but emphasized that the Argentine would be deployed in familiar positions where he can find space and time on the ball. One of the players likely to be feeding Higuain, midfielder Milovan Mirosevic, said he is anxious to get their partnership off the group and suspects it won’t take long for the pair to click, just as he and [Jairo] Arrieta have done.

Follow us on @AerysSoccer for more EPL and MLS commentary and reactions this weekend!

Jerry Bengston after scoring the goal that unofficially eliminated Spain from the Olympics

Yesterday we had a special Women’s Olympics DKA and today is no different as the men’s national teams faced off. The first round closes on August 1st yet today we’ve already witnessed some knockouts. Also, it looks like Madrid’s Nuri Sahin could be loaned out while Mexico’s dos Santos is told to quit the Spurs!!

Spain vs Honduras

It’s safe to say that after a 1-nil loss to Honduras today, Spain, or La Rojita, are pretty much knocked out of the 2012 Olympics after having zero points so far in the tournament.

This Spain lineup (who were the favorites for Olympic gold)  is most widely known as the U23 national squad with the exceptions of Juan Mata and Jordi Alba who were part of the winning Euro 2012 team. Honduras scored early in the 7′ with a shot form Bengston and after that the match was pretty much in Honduras’ hands. The young Spaniards looked frustrated throughout the whole match after collecting 7 yellow cards.

Japan vs Morocco

Japan are looking mighty fine in the tournament so far as they beat Spain in their first match 1-0 and then beat Morocco 1-0 today. Nagai scored the lone goal for the Japanese in the 84′ bringing his side one step closer to the quarterfinals. Morocco’s Amrabat had a close shot to score but the ball was blocked by Japan’s keeper and their full-back.

Great Britain vs UAE

The most thrilling match of the day came from Great Britain, who beat the UAE 3-1. Ryan Giggs, the oldest Olympic goalscorer, started the match off in the 16′. The UAE played a menacing match against the Brits with Elsa being the only player landing on the score sheet in the 60′. The latter two goals for Britain came from youngins Scott Sinclair (73′) and Daniel Sturridge (76′.)

 Men’s Olympic Scores

Senegal 2-0 Uruguay

Mexico 2-0 Gabon

South Korea 2-1 Switzerland

Egypt 1-1 New Zealand

Brazil 3-1 Belarus

The last matches of the first round will take place Aug. 1.

English Premier League

Mexico coach Luis Fernando Tena told Giovani dos Santos to leave the Tottenham Hostpurs in order to seek ‘first-team football.’ Scoring two of the three goals in today’s Mexico-Gabon match, dos Santos rarely gets playing time with the Spurs after signing with them 4 years ago. The Mexican midfielder also stated he wants to return to Spain which didn’t make new Spurs manager, Andre Villas-Boas very happy. Whoops.

La Liga

Looks like Real Madrid player Nuri Sahin could be leaving Spain for England. The midfielder who signed with the  Spanish giants in 2011 from Dortmund, hasn’t had much playing time under manager Jose Mourinho, making only two starts. According to AS, an exit agreement has been determined with both Arsenal and Tottenham interested in the Turkish international.

Okay, we don’t know about you guys, but the Euro 2012 have not only fired us, but our computers decided it would be cool to just, you know, not work too. But now we’re back! And we’re pretty excited because there has been SO much going on in the footy world. Mangers are coming and going in the EPL, Euro 2012 is battling racism unfortunately and tons more. Here’s your Thursday Daily Kick Around!

Grygoriy Surkis, president of the Ukraine soccer body, said the racism threat was overblown in Ukraine and urged everyone to turn their attention from politics to sports.
“There can be individual cases of racism in Ukraine stadiums and that needs to be stopped,” Surkis said Tuesday. “But it is important we focus on the most important thing – football … We should not keep talking about racism in Ukrainian football. The tournament is about football, not politics.” 

Happy Thursday! Can you believe it’s almost the weekend? We’ve got a bunch of headlines for you today, from how the 2014 WC is already plugging into social media, to EPL results, an MLS player back in training after a huge injury and Olympic qualifiers tonight! It’s your Daily Kick Around!

World Cup 2014

So, World Cup won’t be kicking off for at least two more years (yeah, we are a little anxious too), but that hasn’t stopped FIFA from going ahead and starting the hype early on the Internet. The soccer governing body announced yesterday the WC will have it’s own Youtube channel for highlights and clips, and last week, Brazil’s national tourism board released a mobile phone game app to help those visiting the country become familiar with the 12 host cities. Have to say, that’s a pretty awesome idea.

English Premier League

Carlos Tevez is back, in case you weren’t aware. The … ahem… troublesome Argentinian striker was subbed on yesterday in City’s match against Chelsea. He bagged an assist and helped MCFC come back from a goal deficit. I’m sure City fans are excited, but one has to wonder how long the peace will last…

Speaking of troublesome City players, club manager Roberto Mancini had no problem admitting to why he pulled striker Mario Balotelli off at half time yesterday:

“I didn’t like how he played, so I made a tactical sub.”

Can say I blame him – the first half of that game was boring at best, and Balotelli missed a great goal opportunity from a gifted mistake from Chelsea’s Frank Lampard.

If you missed the Arsenal game yesterday, in which the Gunners defeated Everton and moved up into third place in the league, our own Toni Stone has a great look at the game for you! 

Wednesday EPL results

Manchester City 2 – Chelsea 1
Tottenham 1 – Stoke City 1
Everton 0 – Arsenal 1
QPR 3 – Liverpool 2

Fabrice Muamba

Doctors yesterday released startling info that Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba was dead for 78 minutes before being revived.

Mohiddin admitted Muamba’s progress had been extraordinary since he suffered a cardiac arrest at Tottenham on Saturday evening that meant he effectively died for 78 minutes after his heart stopped beating.

With news like that, it really is a miracle Fabrice is alive and making a great recovery. We wish you all the best, Fabrice, and we’ll continue to keep you all updated on his progress.

Major League Soccer

MLS on NBC had another great broadcast week last weekend as teams continued to host their home opening matches, with 145,000 fans watching Philly and Colorado. Fans and hopeful analysts alike are expecting the trend to continue. I certainly hope it does as well!

Tottenham Hotspurs announced today they would be going on a U.S. tour this summer. The EPL side will take on L.A. Galaxy July 24 and the New York Red Bulls on July 31.

Whether you are a fan or not, here is some good news: Colorado Rapids player Conor Casey trained with the team for the first time after he suffered a bad Achilles injury. Reports were that he looked pretty aggressive, but still needed work to get up to match fitness. Congrats, Conor!

USMNT

In case you weren’t aware, the USMNT U-23s will take on Cuba tonight in the first of their summer Olympic qualifying matches in Nashville. Personally, I’m expecting a great run out of the young team, with notables like Freddy Adu and Brek Shea heading up head coach Caleb Porter’s squad.

Speaking of Brek Shea, he was our pick for Midweek Muslces yesterday. Check it out!

Not everything has been smooth for the U-23s has they prepare for the qualifying run. Injuries and players being recalled to their clubs have left Porter and his staff scrambling for replacements. The last minute move to call up the likes of Union defender Sheanon Williams has left a bad taste in coach Peter Nowak’s mouth.

La Liga

Did you think Real Madrid had the La Liga title locked up? Well, you might want to rethink that. Real dropped two points last weekend to Villarreal and with Barca’s commanding finish against Granada, Real might need to start thinking about digging their heels in more to keep their lead.

Serie A

Juventus winger Milos Krasic will be looking to bow out of the Italian side this summer, as he admitted recently he regretted not leaving Juve in the January transfer window. He’s only made four starts for the Italians this season. In January, Tottenham and Zenit made bids for Krasic, but he turned them down he said, hoping to get another chance at his club.

Andre Villas-Boas is out at Chelsea

English Premier League

Usually when we post about Chelsea, weʻre poking fun at Fernando Torres and his inability to score. But following the Blues’ 1-0 defeat to West Brom Saturday, it’s not just Torres but the entire team’s failure this season that led to the announcement this morning that manager Andre Villas-Boas has been canned. The club stated that “the results and performances of the team have not been good enough and were showing no signs of improving at a key time in the season.” Eight managers in five seasons for Chelsea? Yikes.

Tottenham visited Manchester United today in a highly anticipated match. After last week’s stunning thrashing at Arsenal, Redknapp will try to keep the team focused on keeping pace in the standings, while dealing with the rumors of his head being in the national scene clouds. Keep with Aerys as our own Kayla Knapp will have a recap soon!

U.S. Men’s National Team

With the U.S. National Team’s first-ever win over Italy last week, they’ve now won four in a row under Klinsmann, and progress is definitely starting to show.  Sporting News examines the ”method to the German’s madness” in several key areas both on the field  – style, professionalism and expression — as well as off, with their fitness and nutrition.

“You will understand over time what it means to be an 24/7 professional athlete,” Klinsmann said. “I want players who are willing to go the extra mile.”

Algarve Cup

If you’ve missed any of the Algarve Cup action, like I have, given that the only way to follow is on ussoccer.com’s MatchTracker, head on over to All White Kit. Kevin Parker has been on the ground in Portugal and took us through his Friday watching Japan-Denmark and USA-Norway. Plus, photos and post-game interview videos!

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Finally today, the girls here at Aerys Soccer would like to wish a happy birthday to USMNT, L.A. Galaxy midfielder and past Midweek Muscles featured player Landon Donovan. LD turns the big 3-0 today! Happy birthday, Landon! Hope you enjoy it!