Top 10 Goals of the Week

Here are the Top 10 Goals of the Week. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Valencia 5 - Málaga 1

Valencia breezed past Málaga yesterday in La Liga by a score of 5-1 in perhaps their greatest moment of the season thus far. Los Che put on a spectacular display in the first half, scoring an astounding four goals in just six minutes. Here is an uncut video of the second, third, and fourth goals, which were scored in just over  three minutes. Enjoy.

Valencia CF vs Malaga CF 4-0 GOOL FULL-HD by sason5000

Top 10 Goals of the Week

Here are the Top 10 Goals of the Week. I'll try to share these every Friday from now on.

Freddy Adu - The Missing Piece of the USMNT Puzzle

Photo credit: www.theshinguardian.com

"Freddy Adu is washed up."

"Freddy Adu...oh yeah I remember him! He was that kid that was supposed to be really good and never panned out."

"Freddy Adu is a waste of talent."

"Freddy Adu is a failure."

 

These are just some of the criticisms that Freddy Adu has to face every day. The once highly-touted American phenom was burdened with the weight of completely unfair expectations as a 14-year-old and hasn't quite lived up to them. My question is how the heck are you supposed to live up to being compared to Pelé, arguably the greatest footballer of all time? There will never be another Pelé. Oh well. Ironically, Adu now finds himself in Pelé's old stomping grounds of Brazil after just having signed with Bahia, where he will be looking to erase the memories of his time with the Philadelphia Union. Many criticized Adu while he was in Philadelphia for not providing the number of goals and assists expected out of one with the salary he had. And yes, his stats were rather poor during this time. But don't think for one second that it was his own fault; he created several goalscoring opportunities that his teammates consistently failed to capitalize on. Take a look at this video, a compilation of chances he created during the 2012 season with Philly:

 

If Adu's teammates had finished even half of the chances he set up for them he would have been among the league leaders in assists, right?. I mean how frustrating must it be to see Lionard Pajoy waste all of your glorious passes? As a D.C. United fan I get frustrated enough just watching him on TV. You can't just look at a player's stats when assessing whether or not he is a good player. There's no stat for hockey assists or "passes that should have been assists." If you do this, Freddy Adu fails to impress. But if you actually watch the game you will see just how much of an influence he is.

Last year I went with a couple of friends over Spring Break to watch the U-23s play their Olympic qualifying games in Nashville. I watched the Cuba and Canada games in person and watched the El Salvador game online. The thing that stood out to us the most during each game was how much better Freddy Adu was than everyone else. He was simply on another level, both technically and visually - it was evident in perfect full-field switches that hit Brek Shea in stride, in splitting through balls in and around the box, in retaining possession while dribbling out of the pressure of multiple defenders. It was stunning, honestly. My friends and I found ourselves asking "Wait, so why doesn't this guy play for the senior team again? He clearly belongs there. He's a better dribbler than anyone on that team and one of the best passers. He has plenty of creativity, something the team has been lacking for who knows how long. What are we missing? What is Klinsmann not seeing?" It's truly dumbfounding to me. Here are some of his highlights while with the U-23s (sorry it's not the best quality):

People also like to attack Adu's leaderhip of that team. "Yeah he was the captain but look where that got 'em." Well how would you like to captain a team that plays Ike Opara and Perry Kitchen at centerback? Perry Kitchen is a midfielder and Opara is simply a disaster. Anyone would have failed with that backline.

One prevalent criticism of Jürgen Klinsmann's stint with the USMNT has been the lack of goals. And it's a very valid criticism. We have indeed struggled to score multiple goals in games during his time. It's pretty easy to see why - we consistently field more defensive-minded midfielders than we need to (ex. Michael Bradley, Jermaine Jones, and Danny Williams at the same time) and we field other players out of their natural positions (playing Herculez Gomez or Sacha Kljestan at left wing are just a couple of examples). We don't have that one guy who can "unlock" the defense in and around the box. Michael Bradley is probably the closest to this but he's more of a deep lying playmaker that likes to control the tempo of the game. He's not one to dribble through multiple defenders and make something out of nothing. But you know who is? Yep, you guessed it - Freddy Adu. Let's take a look at the last time Freddy was called up to the senior team and actually played significant minutes:

He made an instant impact as soon as he was subbed on and gave life to a stale U.S. attack. Isn't this what we're looking for? Why doesn't Klinsmann give him a look? He has plenty of experience and has shown he can be a difference maker at the international level. Why is he not playing?

As this post comes to a close I would like to remind you that Freddy Adu is still 23 years old. Clint Dempsey was 24 years old when he moved to Fulham in the Premier League and look at what he has gone on to accomplish. Why can't Freddy do the same? Why are we so quick to write him off and say his career is over? He still has plenty of time to get better and come back better than ever. Best of luck to him as he starts this new chapter in Brazil.

Freddy Adu is exactly what the USMNT needs right now - a spark. He is the missing piece. He is the missing creativity. He's the missing flair. He's done it before. Please, Jürgen, just give him another chance. Call him up for the Gold Cup this summer and let him show what he can do. It worked out last time.

Again, what am I missing? What does Klinsmann see in Adu that makes him avoid calling him up while we can't score goals? Why is it so obvious that Adu is EXACTLY what the USMNT needs to everyone except Klinsmann? If anyone could let me know that would be great.


Hope you all have a great weekend.

Some Thoughts on the Champions League Quarterfinals

Incredible tifo before Dortmund-Málaga. Photo credit: www.deadspin.com

The 2013 Champions League semifinals are now set. Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, and Borussia Dortmund make up an all Spanish-German semifinals that will surely produce some memorable games. Here are some of my thoughts from the quarterfinal round:

1. What a crazy finish to the Dortmund-Málaga game. First, Málaga scores an offside goal to go up, and then Dortmund scores the winner with another offside goal. Actually, Dortmund was offside twice during that final goal - all four players were offside when the initial cross came in and then Santana was offside when the ball came to him before putting home the winner. Tough breaks for Málaga. Here are the highlights:

2. Málaga did extremely well to get to the quarterfinals on their very first Champions League appearance. Their fans should be extremely proud of their team. This might be the last time we see Málaga in the Champions League for some time though; they are banned from European competition next year because of their financial situation and they will likely have to unload some of their best players to deal with their debt in the coming months. Many of their main contributors are getting old as well so they will not be as sharp the next time Málaga is able to compete in Europe.

3. Joaquín's goal vs. Dortmund got me thinking about just how stacked Valencia could be right now if they didn't have their current massive financial problems. They have had to sell their best players in the last few years to shave off their debt. This is what they could theoretically be right now:

Diego Alves

João Pereira          Adil Rami          Raúl Albiol          Jordi Alba

Éver Banega

David Silva                          Juan Mata

Joaquín                                         David Villa

 Roberto Soldado

Notable subs: Guaita, Guardado, Jonas, Pablo Hernandez, Sergio Canales, Gago, Mathieu, Isco.

That team surely challenges Barcelona and Real Madrid for La Liga, no? It would be an amazing team to watch, and it's a shame Valencia has had to sell so many stars.

4. I <3 Iniesta.

5. I understand they were playing Barcelona, but it's really hard to call PSG an "underdog" when, you know, their squad costs about $503,634,346,000,000,000. Just like Chelsea last year.

6. Bayern Munich is actually unstoppable. Too bad they'll have another manager next year.......oh wait...... oh my....no, surely not.....no, it can't be.....oh. This team AND Pep Guardiola? Good game, Europe.

7. "Wesley Sneijder is washed up" - anyone who doesn't watch football. Just because someone moves to a team outside of the big 4 leagues in Europe doesn't mean they're bad all of a sudden. He had a great showing against Real Madrid in Galatasaray's comeback attempt.

8. Dat Reus backheel to Lewandowski.

9. Willy Caballero had two incredible saves before Dortmund won the game in injury time. I was stunned those two shots didn't find the back of the net.

10. You don't understand how much I want to see an El Clásico in the Champions League Final. That would have to be one of the greatest matchups of all time, right? The two best players in the world going against each other, the biggest rivalry in the world, competing for the most coveted trophy of the biggest sport in the world, the history behind the rivalry...etc. We'll see what the draw is for the semifinals tomorrow.


 Have any thoughts or comments? Let me know!