Now EPL has it’s own “Super Sunday”

The argument by many on the left side of the pond that what the EPL needs is a playoff or a one-game final will get what they’ve been looking for this Sunday as the 38-game EPL season will culminate the weekend and crown a champion. However, unlike in most years where the issue has already been decided, this season’s table has the top two sides separated by one single point with one match to play. The Blues of Chelsea will host Wigan while Man U. host Stoke City, well it’s not much of a Super Bowl more of a first round NCAA Tournament matchup as it’s a 1 vs. 15 and 2 vs. 10, so we’d be looking for the equivalent of the 69’ Jets to get an upset of this caliber but the fact that it could happen makes you want to watch all the more. Both sides should handle their business rather easily, but if they concede an early goal and then the visitors ‘pack it in’ defensively we could be in for some serious drama. Ok, maybe not but the fact that the season has needed until the second week in May to decide a champion ads fuel to the argument that a ‘playoff system’ simply takes the importance away from the regular season and why should a team get a second chance to become champion when they didn’t take advantage of the opportunity the first time around? On second thought, forget all of this, as the game and the system have been around longer than the argument so sit back and enjoy the day.

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EPL Summit Meeting leaves all feeling ‘Blue’

The most anticipated EPL match of the season took place at Old Trafford this weekend as Chelsea all but sealed up the EPL title with a ‘ginormous’ 2-1 win over Manchester United. We mentioned earlier in the week how Man U had the daunting task of taking 2 of 3 huge games back to back, as the afore mentioned EPL showdown was sandwiched between Champions League Matches with Bayern, and now they find themselves in a dubious 0-2 position with only the last leg of a head-to-head left. On top of the pressure United had to deal with the loss of Wayne Rooney which obviously changes the dynamic of their club but so did the Blues as Drogba was reduced to limited duty but came though despite coming off the bench, by scoring a controversial goal mid-way through the second half to give Chelsea a 2-0 lead that would prove to be the winning margin of victory. In what has become the norm in matches of great importance, critical (non)calls that have been missed by the naked eye but clearer than 20/20 on replay, have dire consequences for the side on the short end. Even in another match is not played until June, this subject will emerge every time they name the World Cup participants and Ireland watches from home. It makes no sense that millions of fans watching from the comfort of their home or chaos of a sports bar see 30-seconds later that Drogba was off-side, yet we have to live with a tainted result. I understand the opponent’s argument about taking the ‘human element’ out of the game but with so much on the line isn’t it more important to get it right? If that’s not a good enough argument then what about the fact that the game itself is being overshadowed by a bad, missed, or distorted call? Do you think people will be talking about France’s qualifying match three years from now or the worst (non)handball since the “hand of God”? In any case Chelsea had given themselves a 2-point lead with 5 to play and may be hoisting a trophy soon. Now I’m not saying that Man U. is dead… after all it is Easter weekend, but we may be talking about something else three years from now as well. Has Chelsea just wrapped up the EPL? Should they adopt instant replay in the EPL? Let us know your thoughts here and in any of the quick links.

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EPL heading towards a ‘Super Bowl’ of its own

Although most sports fans in the states will be looking at April as the month that host the NCAA Championship, beginning of the NBA Playoffs, and the Master’s Golf Championship, and in that order, all true fans of great sport should mark one more day in the month. April 3^rd, will in all likelihood decide the English Premiere League Champion as Manchester United will host Chelsea. Currently sitting 1 and 2 respectively and separated by only one point, so if there is a victor on the pitch the 6 point swing will surely prove to have provided the eventual margin of victory for the EPL Champion. Untied will have plenty of distraction prior to the match as it’s sandwiched between Champions League matches with Bayern Munich in a home-n-home that couldn’t have come at a worse time. On the other side the Blues will not have to carry the same burden with their FA cup meeting with ‘Villa coming after the showdown with Man U. Of course, all bets are off now that Rooney has gone down with an ankle injury. It’s not going out on much of a limb, but with no Rooney we like the Blues chances to close things out in their head-to-head. In all likelihood this will be the finale of a great season with the top 4 sides battling most of the year within six points, but Man U and Chelsea have separated themselves from the pack. However, generating much interest is the run for the Champions League Pre-Qual between ‘Spurs and ‘City who are only separated by 2 points. Both of these questions will be answered over the next 10 days,  but probably talked about over the next 10 years.

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US keeps the dubious streak going

In similar fashion to the Confederations Cup Championship Game where the US just couldn’t stand too much good fortune, the US National Soccer Team kept their dubious winless streak at Azteca Stadium rolling with a 2-1 come from ahead loss in a World Cup qualifying match. We’ve all been made aware of the plethora of obstacles that the US faces when traveling down south, the altitude, the smog, 100k plus fans shouting obscenities that we can’t understand and throwing plastic bottles at our players as they attempt to take corner kicks. We know. But that doesn’t change the reality of having a 1-0 lead in the first five minutes or a tie with less than 7 minutes to go. Once they started to fathom what they were about to pull off, the couldn’t pull it off. They were way to content with stopping Mexico then kicking it deep and letting them come right back down and try to score again. Way too many turnovers and lack of ball control. Mexico controlled possession at an incredible 67% clip. No one, especially us, can stave off that kind of pressure. So, we can take solace that we’re still in second place in the group and have a good shot of advancing to the South Africa next year, but if the US doesn’t learn how to close on the big stage they’ll be home before the postcards.