Soccer Blogs Posts Tagged central defenders

Tuesday's Column: Galaxy Should Follow Chivas USA's Lead

2008-09-30T14:44:04+00:00

Two team's, one season, different directions.

Passion, guts, determination - Chivas USA have embraced those qualities, the Galaxy have not. For the most part, that's the difference between the two franchises this season.

Reading between the lines, Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena appears to agree:

"This is not a project were looking at in the short term, but building this team up over the next couple of years and getting the right kind of characters on the field and by that I mean in terms of their personalities, their competitiveness and their ability.

Weekend of upsets

2008-09-29T00:47:00+00:00

Last weekend's string of unpredictable results in the English Premier League has been mirrored in Australia proving the A-League remains as competitive as ever.

While Hull City were shocking Arsenal and Wigan upsetting big spending Manchester City, closer to home joint league leaders Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory both lost matches they were widely anticipated to win.

Rafa Delighted With Defensive Headache

2008-09-27T02:26:00+00:00

Rafael Benitez has admitted the form of his four centre backs has given him a selection headache ahead of this weekend's derby at Goodison.

Jamie Carragher and Martin Skrtel have been the first choice pairing at the heart of the Reds defence in the Premier League this season, but Daniel Agger and Sami Hyypia both staked their claims for a place in the starting eleven with impressive displays against Crewe in midweek.

Gameday: Galaxy Vs. Chicago Fire

2008-09-25T21:01:06+00:00

Tonight the Galaxy tries to keep its flickering post-season hopes alive in a must-win showdown in Bridgeview, IL against the Chicago Fire. Chicago has been struggling of late, losing the last two games by a combined score of 6-1, but the legendarily leaky Galaxy defense might be just what they need to get back on their game.

5000 goals, but still too many holes

2008-09-15T07:59:00+00:00

Real Madrid kicked off their league championship at home with a victory, but failed to convince the local fans that they have reinforced the squad sufficiently over the summer. They left the pitch to a mixture of boos and applause barely having managed to subdue a rival that has only just been promoted to the top division.

ROBINHOless Madrid Struggle as Ugly 'Futbol' returns in 2-1 loss to Deportivo La Coruna

2008-09-01T00:06:00+00:00

The repercussions of Robinho's absence on the pitch are just now beginning to be felt by MADRIDISTAS everywhere. Last year, whenever Madrid played this bad, Robinho bailed them out, which is what great players do, they create something out of nothing. No one else on this team has that ability to be the 'rompe esquemas'(spanish for gamebreaker).

Liverpool 1-0 Standard de Liege aet

2008-08-27T22:24:00+00:00

Reina
Arbeloa Skrtel Carragher Aurelio
Kuyt Alonso Gerrard Benayoun
Torres Keane

Goals:
Kuyt 118'

These games are not doing my heart any good. Four games into the season, and the earliest goal Liverpool's scored has come in the 83rd minute. And Kuyt striking the winner after suffering a ton of stick makes it even sweeter.

Senderos to Milan!

2008-08-27T20:39:49+00:00

The rumours were true for once! The arrival of Silvestre brought upon an excessive number of central defenders in the back line of the Gunners, one of them had to pack their stuff and leave. Philippe Senderos, 23 years old, Swiss International, will join Serie A Giants AC Milan on

Arsenal manager ‘hasn’t decided’ whether to let Milan have defender for keeps

2008-08-26T16:52:56+00:00

While Arsene Wenger is woefully short of decent midfielders, he seemingly has an abundance of central defenders at Arsenal. Perhaps he should convert one or two of them into footballers who can carve out chances for strikers and break up the opposition play - in the same way that Kolo ...

United's slick passing machine simply too good for Pompey...

2008-08-26T09:23:00+00:00

Predictably, much has been made of the Reds lack of a cutting edge up front without an obvious out and out striker available to Fergie. But on the evidence of the Champions performance against Portsmouth on Monday night there's little worry about, with Rooney and in particular Carlos Tevez looking razor sharp.

AC Philan?

2008-08-25T21:00:03+00:00

Tonight it emerges that Phil Senderos could be off, on loan, to AC Milan.

My first thought? Bad timing, really.

Phil Senderos has blown hot and cold for some time and it's pretty clear that the way things are right now, he's not first choice at Arsenal. He had an average season last year and with Djourou seemingly ahead in the pecking order, something had to give.

Match Report: LiverpooL 2 - 1 Middlesbrough

2008-08-24T07:34:00+00:00

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard fired a stunning stoppage-time winner to floor Middlesbrough after they threatened an Anfield shock.

England head coach Fabio Capello suggested in midweek that Gerrard is not fully fit, but he was still going strong late in the game against Boro as Liverpool came from behind to claim three points.

English-Based Players Dominate UEFA Awards Shortlist

2008-08-22T18:21:00+00:00

Apparently the standard of English football, despite the travesty of the national team, is not going down. It is going up. The evidence is there for all to see. No fewer than 17 of the 20 nominees on UEFA's list for Club Footballer of the Year are based in the English Premier League. Furthermore, seven nominees are English, making England the best represented nation on the shortlist, ahead of Spain (five).

Tottenham's Defense Looking Towards Top Four: Health Plays Key Role

2008-08-15T17:32:00+00:00

North London outfit Tottenham Hotspurs have always been a club on the outside of the top four but looking in. Big money acquisitions in recent years have made Tottenham the fifth best Premier League team on paper, but Spurs fans found out the hard way that games aren't always played on paper. After an extremely disappointing bottom half finish last season, Tottenham are looking to build on their Carling Cup success from last year and assert themselves as one of the top sides in England.

Aussies out of Under 23 World Cup

2008-08-13T13:29:00+00:00

Australia went out of the Olympics tonight. They lost 1-0 in Tianjin to the Ivory Coast.

And whilst they gave perhaps their best performance of the tournament they never really looked convincing in the the final third, not tonight, or indeed in the whole tournament.

They told us they were a great group of players, battle hardened having qualified through Asia.

Manchester United defender the best in Europe? He’s not even the best at Old Trafford!

2008-07-24T17:52:26+00:00

It appears that Sir Alex Ferguson has been out in the sun too much recently. Not content with an ill-advised jibe about Chelsea's supposedly ageing squad (read Van Der Sar, G Neville, Giggs, Scholes), the Scot is now making outlandish claims about one of his central defenders. Don't forget to ...

Kolo Toure Has Malaria

2008-07-23T22:04:00+00:00

Just what we needed. The man I've been wanting to captain this team for the new season contracted malaria over the summer in the Ivory Coast. He was feeling a little weakness during the training camp in Austria and was taken to the hospital for a check up, and they discovered...wait for it...that he has contracted the deadly disease.

Bye Bye, Toto

2008-07-17T13:53:26+00:00

Sebastien Squillaci is officially gone. Final price was €6.25m plus another half million in incentives, which is more than double what Lyon originally purchased him for two years ago.

In his press conference, Squillaci said that he wanted a new adventure and to continue progressing his career.

The Mourning After

2008-07-14T04:48:53+00:00

Though I'm still feeling hollow and depressed following last night's game in the Windy City, it's time to offer up my opinions. While most of the sentiment I've been hearing from other supporters has been all doom and gloom, I don't think we had a very weak performance. In fact, if MLS refereeing had not committed daylight robbery on us AGAIN, I daresay we would have won the match.

Handling the upcoming schedule

2008-07-10T07:23:00+00:00

Thursday's game against the LA Galaxy is just one of a string of big games Chivas USA will have in the coming days. On Sunday, Chivas USA will play Pachuca in the SuperLiga opener for both teams. Then, Santos will visit on Wednesday followed by a match against New England on July 20.

That's four games in 11 days.

Gameday 6 - The Grimsby Derby...

2008-07-08T22:20:00+00:00

So, it's come to pass. Another Derby Day gone and another classic battle over. What started out as the promise of glory for one half of Grimsby, and thorough despair for the other, turned out to be neither.

4-4-2 to start for GFC as we would stay well balanced to see what Thistle was in the mood for that afternoon.

Consistent and attack minded full backs....

2008-07-05T16:36:00+00:00

.... are something which Liverpool needs. With Dossena putting pen to paper yesterday and Degen the day before that, we now have 2 full backs who [one way or the other] could bring an added dimension to our play.
My gut instinct is that Dossena will be the better of the two, with Degen showing some early promise before fading in similar fashion to Voronin.

So it's a fondue farewell to EURO 2008

2008-06-30T16:12:00+00:00

They think it's all over, and it is now.
Wow, what a tournament, 31 matches with only two or three duds and with several genuine classics and plenty of high drama, especially in the knock-out phase where tournament football usually gets too nervy and cagey to be truly entertaining.
With Torres's winner in the final it meant that 77 goals were scored, exactly the same as at EURO 2004, but the manner of many of the goals has meant that it's been an entirely different tournament from last time with fantastic quick counter-attacking and passing moves replacing the reliance on set pieces that saw Greece crowned as champs last time out.

Lilian Thuram's Career May End with Heart Defect Diagnosis

2008-06-29T06:10:13+00:00

Lilian Thuram has always been one of my favorite French players -- a class act both on and off the field. He's thirty-six years old and has played for France since 1994. He's the team's most-capped international at 142 games. In the years since World Cup 2006, he's worn the captain's armband every time Patrick Vieira has been injured, which has been frequently.

EURO 2008 Third-place Goes To . . .

2008-06-29T00:25:47+00:00

There are many reasons to love the European Champions, but my favorite is the lack of a third-place playoff. As you know we align ourselves with Glengarry Glen Ross on third-place . . . although we aren't sure the EUROs give a Caddy for first place. (What is the European equivalent to the big-ass, gas-guzzling, ostentatious Cadillac El Dorado?

A win is badly needed

2008-06-28T13:57:25+00:00

Back at the CAB this weekend, with a winnable game on the schedule. Real Salt Lake is coming to KC, bringing their not-so-impressive road record of 1-5 into this game. What's misleading about is the fact that RSL hasn't lost in five games - including a 0-0 draw three weeks ago against KC. And while the Wizards haven't won in the league in what seems like forever (last win on April 20), there will be no better time than this.

Atencion - yo soy Martinez

2008-06-25T15:51:00+00:00

Just like Craig Stouffer predicted, here's my look at Gonzalo Martinez, DC United's Steady Eddie for 2008.

This Colombian is cool as the proverbial cucumbers, polar bear keratin or pillow undersides -- take your pick. His speed and athleticism make it hard to believe he's almost 33 years old, but then again, heaps of poise and confidence make clear his age and experience.

Bosphorous 1-0 Balkans

2008-06-21T18:34:00+00:00

It's almost as if Michel Platini was sitting in the stand with a remote control. "Honestly", he thought to himself as he recalled the one hundred and eighteen minutes of dirge that he had found himself sitting through, "if you leave them to do it for themselves, you'll always end up with one really duff match in the end".

Euro 2008: Day 1

2008-06-09T03:05:00+00:00

Czech Republic 1-0 Switzerland
So, not a bad game to kick off the tournament. The Swiss may not be one of the favoured teams, but they gave a good account of themselves overall, despite the loss. The Czechs took a while to get going, and although they had more quality than their opponents, I'd say they were lucky to come away with a win, and they needed a few good saves from Petr Cech to keep them in the game.

Let's All Worry About France's Central Defense

2008-05-26T22:08:47+00:00

I think it's safe to say that most of us get a little frisson of concern when we think of Raymond relying on the old guard of William Gallas and Lilian Thuram as central defenders for the entire tournament. (Gallas less than Thuram. I adore Lilian, but