Reuters Soccer Blog

Soccer Break Monday – season already over?

Anyone else feel as though all the excitement and potential late drama for this season has disappeared?

Manchester United took less than 40 seconds to score against title rivals Chelsea, all but killing the game and the Londoners’ hopes of retaining their Premier League crown, while in Italy AC Milan made it 18 Serie A trophies with a 0-0 draw at AS Roma. Barcelona took a giant stride towards a third straight La Liga title with a 2-0 win over Espanyol. Click on this link for our European roundup.

Champions League finalists United and Barca both need a point to clinch their respective league titles, though for the Catalans three wins will be their priority. Why? Nine points plus 91 equals 100, which would set a new record for points scored in a La Liga season.

Read here for a look back at the Premier League season and five key moments for United. The first was the signing of Javier Hernandez, who darted through Chelsea’s defence on Sunday to give the home team their explosive start. Another key performer, seemingly in big games, is South Korean Park Ji-sung.

AC Milan’s latest scudetto will come as a relief to their fans but the Italian giants face tough times ahead. Read our analysis on the future for the Rossoneri.

The only league that looks like serving up any kind of late season drama is Ligue 1, where serial past champions Olympique Lyon are making a late title surge. They have the referee to thank mind you. But bring on the drama in France. And the Netherlands, where the Eredivisie will be decided this weekend.

Back to France, and the latest on the racism row. Should coach Laurent Blanc stay or go?

Soccer Break Friday – titles at stake

The week is ending but the drama is just cranking up. Yes, the weekend is almost upon us, and that means loads more football action around Europe where there is still plenty at stake.

European competition is almost over for another season after Braga and Porto booked their places in the Europa League final in Dublin.

Borussia Dortmund became the Bundesliga champions last weekend, and AC Milan need just a point against AS Roma to lift the Serie A title on Saturday.

In Spain, should Real Madrid lose at Sevilla on Saturday and Barcelona grab a point at home to Espanyol on Sunday, the Catalans will be La Liga champions.

Things are a little tighter in the Premier League and Ligue 1, where two or three clubs in each league have a decent shot at glory.

All eyes will be on Old Trafford come Sunday, where leaders Manchester United host Chelsea. A United win, and they would need a mere point from their two remaining fixtures.

A Chelsea win, and both sides will be level on points though the Londoners would hit the top of the table due to a better goal difference. Who would have thought it after Chelsea’s woeful run of form in the middle of the season?

Soccer Break Wednesday – One down, one to go.

Well it looks like being a Barcelona v Manchester United final in the Champions League on May 28 after the Catalans booked their Wembley tickets on Tuesday, though Schalke 04 will have something to say about that in the penultimate match of the 2010-11 competition.

Barcelona were simply too good for Real Madrid despite the 1-1 scoreline, and you get the feeling that in this sort of form they will be hard to stop.

Although the 90 minutes were littered with niggly fouls and several acts of ‘simulation’, for the first time in four recent meetings between the bitter rivals, we saw a football match.

And it ended nicely too, with scenes of joy as Eric Abidal was hoisted aloft by his jubilant team mates. Astonishingly Abidal could feature in the final, just two months after surgery to remove the tumor from his liver. Well done that man.

The bickering will continue though especially after Cristiano Ronaldo accused the referee of a Barca bias. Ronaldo, for all his talents, appears to disappear in huge matches. Here are four ways the ‘second best player in the world’ can challenge Lionel Messi as the world’s best talent.

Barca’s next probable opponents then are Man United, a very solid outfit, and should they reach the showpiece event then we could be in for a cracking match.

Any predictions for Wednesday’s game? United will surely score to make Schalke’s uphill climb even steeper.

Soccer Break Wednesday

Happy middle of the week to you all, and if like me you are in London where the sun is out and there is very little football to write about, you are forgiven for thinking the season is over and the grasscourt tennis season is about to kick in.

Don’t look so worried, David (right). While the weather will probably change before I’ve finished writing this blog, the good news is it’s only March and there is plenty more football left. It’s just this week it’s the international break.

One of the most intriguing matches is Friday’s qualifier between Serbia and Northern Ireland. Why? There will be no supporters in the ground after Serbia’s clash with Italy in October was abandoned following crowd trouble and the 2006 World Cup winners were handed a 3-0 win.

Also in action on Friday are Italy, France and the 2010 World Cup finalists Spain and the Netherlands, while on Saturday Wales host England in a British Isles derby and Norway host Denmark in a Scandinavian battle. Germany and Russia are two other big names playing.

Chelsea fans fond of Guus Hiddink should also keep a close eye on next Tuesday’s Turkey v Austria match. Blues supporters, should Carlo Ancelotti go if Chelsea fail to win any silverware this year?

Back to European football, and read here for a very dedicated look at the major European leagues including an analysis of AC Milan’s loss in form that has made the Serie A title much more open.

Some good news for Barcelona fans on Tuesday was fullback Dani Alves renewing his contract until 2015.

Former Gunner Gallas relishing life at Tottenham

By Mike Collett in London

If things had turned out differently, William Gallas could well have been facing Champions League heartache with Arsenal in Barcelona rather than glory with their arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur this week.

The 33-year-old France midfielder is one of only a handful of players down the years to have moved across the North London divide — and is absolutely delighted he did.

After a naturally hesitant baptism at his new club at the start of the season, Gallas has played a huge part in Spurs success and played a vital role in their goalless last-16 second leg draw with AC Milan on Wednesday that put Spurs into the quarter-finals with a 1-0 m aggregate victory.

With 26 minutes played he saved a certain Milan goal with a goalline clearance and along with skipper Michael Dawson was at the heart of a defensive masterclass that echoed that of Liverpool or Arsenal themselves in their glory years.

Gallas is unique in that he is the only man ever to have played first team football for London rivals Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham and with 88 UEFA club appearances to his name, is the most experienced European campaigner at Spurs.

He believes he has now shown Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger, and anyone else who doubted him, that he is still at the top of his game.

Thierry Henry interview

Former Arsenal, Barcelona and France striker Thierry Henry is loving life in the United States and wants to see New York Red Bulls develop identity as an attractive passing football team but he also hankers after an eventual return to Arsenal in some role in the future.

The following is the full transcript of interview by Simon Evans with Henry after pre-season training with the Red Bulls in Fort Lauderdale this weekend. Shortly before the interview began at the team’s hotel Henry was approached by an American guest who recognised him from a documentary film about racism in sport but who then asked the Frenchman for his name.

Q: It must be quite nice to be asked for your name like that. I can’t imagine too many people wouldn’t recognise you back home.

It’s nice…I really don’t mind, I mkind of like not being recognized. The other day I had a day off and had breakfast in the hotel and went later to see a movie just like any normal person and it was just great. It’s refreshing.

Q: The was a view when you decided to leave Barcelona for the Red Bulls that you had headed to the MLS ‘retirement home’ Do you get a bit of that from people?

Whenever I go back, people kind of like, as you say, put MLS down. But you see when the European teams come in for pre-season and I know it is only pre-season but maybe back in time they would have won easily and now you look at the results, quite often the European teams lose or struggle to win. I know they are in pre-season and they aren’t going to go (full out) but it speaks volumes.

Chambery’s French passion underlines renaissance of domestic cups

Fifth division Chambery’s stunning win over top-flight Sochaux to reach the French Cup quarter-finals has got a lot of people talking and I think it’s fair to say domestic cup competitions around Europe are enjoying a bit of a resurgence.

As this week proved with other games, Cup shocks are nothing new in France – something I knew before moving to Paris on Monday — but the fact newspapers and fans are stilll excited about Chambery’s run speaks volumes.

A packed little stadium for a game played in the midweek afternoon, a huge front page picture in L’Equipe and non-soccer fans mentioning the win in lifts all go to show that there is still magic in the Cup.

The FA Cup in England has taken a bit of a battering over recent years but minor league side Crawley Town being drawn at Manchester United in the fifth round and moneybags Manchester City needing 30 million pound striker Edin Dzeko to salvage a draw at third division Notts County has brought back a lot of romance.

In Italy, where the Italian Cup has been derided for years, top teams are suddenly playing their main sides in the competition and not rotating.

This is partly because of unusually stretched squads this season due to injuries but also Inter Milan’s treble last term showed how important the Cup could sometimes be. It’s also getting tight at the top of Serie A for Champions League places so a Europa League berth through the Cup could be very handy.

Real Madrid and Barcelona have been taking the King’s Cup very seriously and their predictable meeting in the final will be billed as one of the biggest ever battles between them given there is direct silverware at stake.

Houllier should be perfect match for Villa

A tricky start to the season in which manager Martin O’Neill left before a ball was kicked, midfielder James Milner joined Manchester City and the club limped out of the Europa League, Aston Villa were in need of steady hands. Gerard Houllier should be just the man.

The 63-year-old Frenchman, who won five trophies with Liverpool and three French league titles, has swapped his job as technical director of the French Football Federation (FFF) for the Villa hot seat and brings a wealth of experience with him.

Many ardent Liverpool fans will point to Houllier’s Anfield arrival in 1998 as the dawn of an important era at the club whereby a new attitude was installed and success was soon to follow.

A five-year plan included the exit of big names such as Paul Ince, David James and Steve McManaman and the arrival of modest signings like Sami Hyypia, Dietmar Hamann and Stephane Henchoz, who were to leave a big impression on the club.

Then came a League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup treble in 2001, followed by a Community Shield and UEFA Super Cup. He has also won a Ligue 1 title with Paris St Germain in 1986 and two more with Olympique Lyon in 2006 and 2007.

Aston Villa are probably not in need of such an overhaul, having enjoyed a relatively successful season last time around courtesy of some exciting football from English youngsters like Ashley Young, Gabriel Agbonlahor and Milner, but they must continue to progress.

An erratic start to the new season, in which Villa have won two Premier League matches and lost the other 6-0 to Newcastle United, while also making that early Europa League exit, will mean Houllier must get to grips quickly despite a six-year absence from English soccer.

Euro 2012 qualifiers – live

We’re following all tonight’s Euro 2012 qualifiers live. Join us here for updates, comments and pix … and details of all the goals as they go in.

Community Blog: Barberton still supports World Cup

Residents of the small Mpumalanga mining town of Barberton say they will continue to support the world cup despite the first round exit of the national team, Bafana Bafana, from the tournament after failing to achieve the impossible odds of beating France 4-0 in order to have a long shot chance of making the next round.     Vuvuzelas could be heard all over Emjindini, Barberton’s Township, during the Bafana Bafana and France encounter on Tuesday afternoon with the sound rising to a deafening level, accompanied by wild cheers, as Bafana Bafana scored their first goal.

The scene inside a shop called Mashipisa, were about fifty had crammed in to watch the match, was near pandemonium when Bafana Bafana scored their second goal.   Shouts of “siyabashaya, siyayishaya iFrance” (we are going to beat them, we are going to beat France) reverberated through the small shop.     However, the excitement was diminished when the French netted one in the second half. And while the end result seemingly was met with disappointment, many still expressed happiness at Bafana beating a team the calibre of France in the World Cup, calling the victory “our revenge for 1998”.    

The close proximity to Nelspruit, only 40km away, one of the tournament’s host cities, gave Barberton residents the opportunity to experience the World Cup first hand. Convoys of cars leaving Barberton for Nelspruit could be seen, with flags waving on antennas and Vuvuzelas being blown out windows, when matches were held.     One resident, Duduzile Mhlanga, who was desperate to attend the opening match at the Mbombela stadium but did not have a ticket and transport but eventually made it to the Chile vs Honduras said, “I had to make a plan there was no way I was going to miss this experience its a once in a lifetime chance and it was great”.       But overall it is clear that World Cup fever has taken root in Barberton and support of the tournament has not been diminished by the first round departure of Bafana Bafana.

As a taxi driver put it on Wednesday morning, “It’s too exciting not to support it just because Bafana is out. Besides we are proud of what the country has achieved”.

This blog was written by a community blogger  chosen  to write  on their community’s experience of the  World Cup.