FT: Montenegro 1-1 England

It was really a tale of two halves for the England side. As good as the were in the first half of play, they were just as bad in the last 45 minutes of play.

Wayne Rooney was brilliant going forward early and often. In the first couple of minutes of play, Rooney chipped the ball, but it went over Mladen Bozovic’s head, and it was not troubling the keeper. Glen Johnson rocketed a shot at the goal, unfortunately for the Englishmen, Bozovic got his fingertips to it.

Steven Gerrard took the corner for England and it found the head of Wayne Rooney who got it into the back of the net without much trouble at all. After the goal, both teams improved, which was unfortunate for Montenegro.

Welbeck was wrongly booked in the first half when his legs got tangled with Stefan Savic’s but the Swedish referee did not see it that way and England could have well been 2-0 up before halftime.

Stevan Jovetic proved to be a threat for Montenegro in the second half and his early header into the side netting proved just that. On another break for Montenegro found Jovetic feed the skipper, Vucinic, but his shot was sent curling just wide of the post. The pressure would be relentless until the end of the match from here on out.

If it was not for Joe Hart, England could have been been a couple of goals down. After another brilliant save by Hart, there was a scramble in front of the net and Damjanovic leveled the match.

England almost got a late game winner after some poor defending from Montenegro late into stoppage time.

FT: France 0-1 Spain

Spain took back the control of Group I by defeating Les Blues in Paris last night in a highly anticipated match between to European giants.

Karim Benzema has now failed to score for France in over 1000 minutes of play as well as failing to convert on his last 49 shot attempts.

Les Blues started out with a quickly and Valbuena had their first chance on goal in just under 20 seconds of play. France looked really intent early on by intercepting Spain’s passing all over the pitch.

Nacho Monreal, the Arsenal left-back, was a great asset for Spain going forward. Early on in the match Andres Iniesta found Nacho Monreal, passed it to Xavi after cutting back and failed to find the target from six yards out.

A huge shout for penalty came on the half hour mark when Pedro got tangled with the French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. Xavi got booked by the referee for protesting the penalty.

Spain were much improved after the break while France seemed to be on the back-foot. They nearly got the lead just after a couple of minutes into the second half when a beautiful one-touch passing between Xavi and Xabi Alonso in which Iniesta nearly found the back of the net but Lloris got his fingertips to the ball.

Pedro crossed the ball to Monreal back on the left side. Pedro then raced inside the box to the far box and met Monreal’s diagonal box and Lloris could do nothing about that.

From then on, it was smooth sailing for the reigning European and World Champions even though France was still determined to attack even after Pogba had been sent off for two bookings in just as many minutes.

Player Profile: Julian Draxler

Listed at only 1.87 m long, this young German attacking midfielder is already causing heads to turn whenever he comes on the pitch with his powerful long distance shots. He has yet to really break into the national team, but with a country loaded with young talents, it will, undoubtedly, take some time before he is a regular fixture in the national team.

Draxler made his debut for Schalke on January 15th, 2011. At this time, he was the fourth youngest player to make his debut in the Bundesliga. The following week he, he made his debut start for the German side against making him the second youngest to ever start in the Bundesliga behind Nuri Şahin. He appeared in 30 of the 34 matches that helped Schalke get into the Champions League. Draxler made his debut on the international side for the German U-21 scoring a goal on his debut in a 4-1 victory over Cyprus U-21 in a qualifier for the 2013 European U-21 Championship. He made his debut for the national side, in a loss to Switzerland, less than a year later than that.

He can score goals with both his left foot and his right, while hitting them from some distance. Draxler is very gifted at reading the game; he usually makes the right pass at the right time. Another outstanding feature of his is his ability to hold onto possession for long periods of time, similar to that of the Argentinian superman Lionel Messi. Perhaps his weakest ability is crossing the ball into the box, but that will surely get better as he ages and his game develops more.

FT: France 3-1 Georgia

Young Paul Pogba and Raphael Varane both made their debuts for France against Georgia after having outstanding seasons with their respective clubs. Benzema continues to struggle with the national team, now having not scored since June of 2012.

Ribery looked lively early on and it showed in the sixth minute of play when the Bayern Munich winger struck the post, cutting in from the left side of the pitch and curling it past Girogi Loria.

Varane had a chance to score off of a corner kick but his shot deflected off of Mamadou Sakho. Pogba also had a chance from the edge of the area, but his shot went straight at the Georgian keeper who held it easily.

France took controll of the match right from the first whistle. But despite all the possession that they had, it took until the stoppage time in the first half to break the dead lock, through Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud.

Valbuena got fouled, floated his free kick towards Giroud who flicked it into the back of the net right before half time which was a real momentum shifter for the rest of the match.

Valbuena was the goal scorer early in the second half, around the 47th minute, when controlled the pass from Ribery and hit it first time to the back of the net, doubling the French lead and just about wrapping up the three points and taking control of Group I after Spain had drew with Finland earlier.

If it seems like Valbuena was everywhere this match, well, he basically was, being involved in the third goal of the match as well. He crossed the ball to Ribery. Ribery cut inside Zurab Khizanishvili and curled it to the near post past Loria.

Georgia did get a consollation goal with about 20 minutes left to go in the match. Kobakhidze pounced on a ball that had been deflected into the back of the French goal, but the French never looked like they would lose this match especially with the Spain test coming up on Tuesday.

FT: Argentina 3-0 Venezuela

Argentina starting XI: Romero; Garay, Zabaleta, Rojo, Fernandez; Gago, Montillo, Mascherano; Higuian, Messi, Lavezzi
Venezuela starting XI: Hernandez; Tunez, Vizcarrondo, Cichero, Guanche; Rincon, Seijas, Lucena, Arango; Feltscher, Rondon

Two goals from Real Madrid striker Higuain and a conversion from the spot from Barcelona’s Lionel Messi gave Argentina the full three points in their qualifying match and dominated from the beginning whistle to the end.

The score line could have been a lot worse for Venezuela, if not for their keeper, Daniel Hernandez, making a couple of good saves early one to keep Argentina off the boards early.

Messi played a beautiful through ball to Higuain who was one on one with Hernandez and beat him with a low cross-shot to put Argentina up 1-0. Right before half time, Lionel messi converted from the spot kick after Gabriel Cichero handled the ball inside the area.

Higuain scored again, but this time in the second half. Messi again with the assist, just like with the first goal, and found Higuain perflectly who slotted it home past Hernandez for the third goal of the match and securing the three points.

Argentina hold onto first place right now and take on Bolivia, while Venezuela take on Colombia on Tuesday.

FT: Barcelona 4-0(4-2) AC Milan

Barcelona advance to the last eight of the UEFA Champions League last night by scoring four goals against the Italian giants. Lionel Messi lead the way by scoring two goals in the first half of action.

AC Milan could not do much to retain possession as it seemed like every time they got the ball, Barcelona would be able to get it back and pass around them forever. Jordi Alba had 93% passing completion throughout the match, mainly on the left hand side of the pitch where he likes to roam freely, while Javier Mascherano, completed an astounding 95% of his passes to all parts of the pitch. These two combined were a huge reason that Barcelona controlled possession and tempo the entire match.

However, the crossing ability of Barcelona is very poor and it is not a strong suit of their game. Barcelona completed just 2 of their 18 crosses, which turns out to be just an 11% completion rate. But when you have players such as Messi, Villa, Iniesta, Xavi, etc., you can live without much need to cross the ball.

The Italian club had been on a good run winning their last five matches in the Serie A, but their offense suffered tonight as January signing, Mario Balotelli, was unable to play since having played for Manchester City in the group stages of this tournament and Pazzini was unable to play due to injury. They still had Stephen El Shaaraway, Robinho, Niang to lead their attack, but were invisible for much of the match.

Lionel Messi’s first goal was outstanding. It seemed as if the whole of AC Milan was surrounding him, though there were only 4 or 5, he somehow got the shot away and fired it into the corner of the net from seemingly out of nowhere. Iniesta stole the ball away from Milan, passed it to Messi, got away from Mexes, and drove the ball hard and low for his second goal of the match, in the 39th minute of play.

The third goal was helped by Constant’s poor defending. David Villa was left unmarked on the right side of the pitch when the ball was passed to him and curled it around Abbiati for an early goal in the the second half. Jordi Alba, who I believed to be the man of the match, finished it off late in the game, when his first shot was not held all the way by Abbiati, and he tapped the ball home from close range.

Six teams are now into the last eight with two games left to be played tomorrow. Bayern Munich have a comfortable advantage over Arsenal while Porto and Malaga are level on goals at one all.

Queen’s Park Rangers 3-1 Sunderland

Harry Redknapp is working his magic in London again, but this time it is with Queen’s Park Rangers, trying to keep them in the Premier League for at least another season. Their win over struggling Sunderland will most certainly help their case.

A key component of QPR’s victory over the weekend was their ability to stop crosses from Sunderland who really depend on sending into the box from the wings. Sunderland missed a grand total of 20 crosses, while on the other hand QPR completed 50% of their crosses.

Queen’s Park Rangers levelled the match just ten minutes after Sunderland had took an early lead in the 20th minute. Former Marseille man, Loic Remy, got the goal for the R’s. Townsend rocketted a shot from some distance but was deflected off of O’shea into the path of Remy who hit into the back of the net rather easily.

QPR’s second goal of the match really superb. Sunderland’s defense was able to clear former Chelseman Jose Bosingwa’s cross but straight at Andros Townsend. He took it off his chest and proceeded to volley the ball from 25 yards out. There was nothing O’Shea could have done to stop that shot, unfortunately.

The Rangers would add a third goal just to wrap up the much needed three points. Jenas got the last goal and did it with some style as well.

Queen’s Park Rangers now go on to play fellow relegation rivlas Aston Villa on the road, while Sunderland go back to the Stadium of Light to play hosts to Norwich City.

FA Cup Quarterfinal: Everton 0-3 Wigan Athletic

Three goals in three and a half minutes for Wigan was enough to see the side go to Wembley for the FA Cup Semi-Final for the first time in their club’s history.

Everton did not produce much of anything yesterday and did not put up much of a fight in the second half down 0-3. The only real threat from Everton came from the first attack on either side. Sylvin Distin headed the ball wide of the goal and did not threaten Joel Robles at all.

Nikica Jelavic is in a bit of a goal drought for the Toffees having not scored in almost two months and created the second chance for Everton in the first half. He blasted a low ball right a Robles, but the Wigan ‘keeper palmed it away with ease.

Mucha, the back up goalie for Everton since Tim Howard is out injured for close to 7 weeks, got into a bit of twister in the 31st minute. Gomez’s corner got Mucha all turned around and could not find the ball before Figueroa pounced on it and hit it into the back of the net. The second goal came quickly after when Callum McManaman beat Distin and chiped it beautifully over the out-of-position Mucha.

The goals did not stop there for Wigan. The third and final goal came from Gomez, who had created the first goal, rifled the shot from 20 yards out into the back of the net.

Neville was removed in the second half to let Anichebe go up front with Jelavic to proivde more an attacking threat, but nothing resulted with the change and Wigan continued to dominate the match.

Wigan will either play Millwall or Blackburn in the semi-final after the play their replay.

Valenciennes 1-3 Lille

With the win over mid table Valenciennes yesterday, Lille have won their last league matches. While on the other hand, Valeciennes have only won once in their last five league matches while drawing two and winning one.

Lille are currently only 3 points away from Marseille and with the current form that they are on, they have a chance at getting into a Champions League spot.

Lille started attacking the home goal quick and early with chances early from Payet and former Chelsea man Salomon Kalou, but nothing really threatening. However, the home side got an early lead in the 34th minute thanks to Maor Melikson. Melikson broke into the box and beat Elana from inside the box.

Valenciennes would only be able to hold onto the lead until the 55th minute of the match. Marvin Martin crossed the ball into the box from an unmarked Ronny and headed it past the hard working Penneteau. Lille would continue to dominate after that point and not let anything develop for the home side. They scored their second with which seemed like an endless array of shots from the Lille attackers, with De Melo finishing it up in the 82nd minute.

The third goal was similar to the first one scored by Ronny. Divock Origi crossed the ball into the box and Pendretti got his head onto it.

Barcelona 2-0 Deportivo La Coruna

There were three big names missing from Barcelona’s starting XI yesterday and these included, Lionel Messi, Gerard Pique, and Iniesta were all on the bench for this match against the bottom of the leage side as they have Champions League action during the mid-week against A.C. Milan.

Barcelona, like always, were in much of the possession early and often and Deportivo showed no threat in causing trouble to Pinto. However, Barcelona had many chances to break the game wide open in the first half but failed to do so and at the break the lead was just one.

Daniel Alves got the attacking threat going in the 12th minute of the match when he drilled the ball hard, but it was right at Aranzubia and did not trouble him at all. David Villa was through on goal when he beat Deportivo’s offside trap, but he misfired and sent the ball blazing over the cross bar just two minutes after Alves’ attempt.

Villa was one vs one with Aranzubia only to be denied by the keeper. Unfortunately for the Deportvio goalkeeper, Barcelona would eventually break through. They did so with seven minutes left to go until half time. Dani Alves was down the right side of the pitch and found an unmarked Andreas Iniesta inside the box who headed it powerfully towards goal. There was a bit of controversial call when the ball appeared to be over the line when nothing was called, but that was all put to rest when the Chilean, Alexis Sanchez hammered home the rebound from close range.

The first 20 minutes of the second half were unusual for Barcelona because they started pretty flat. To counter their early struggles and not wanting the away side to get back in the match at all, they brought in Lionel Messi and Iniesta to protect and extend their lead.

An offside called ruled out a second goal in the 74th minute of play when Iniesta’s initial shot was fumbled by Aranzubia and Messi was their to clean up the mess, but in an offside position. However, the two would eventually give Barcelona the two goal advantage they were hoping for. Iniesta set the move in motion with a quick shift of gears in midfield, Messi exchanged a one-two with Alves and then casually flicked over Aranzubia.

Lionel Messi has now scored in 17 consecutive La Liga matches, which is a new world record.