Chelsea got goals from Ramires and Didier Drogba and then held off a late charge from Liverpool to win the 2012 FA Cup Final by a score of 2-1 at Wembley Stadium today. It marked Chelsea's fourth FA Cup Title in the past six seasons and their their third in the past four. Andrew Carroll nearly played the hero for Liverpool coming off the bench in the second half and scoring one goal and just barely missing an equalizer as his header from 5 yards out was saved by Peter Cech and deflected off the underside of the bar without crossing the goal line with under ten minutes to play. Chelsea now has two weeks to prepare for a second piece of hardware this season as they get ready for Bayern Munich in the Final of the UEFA Champions League. Here's a look back at Chelsea's run to their 7th FA Cup title:
Round 3 - W 4-0 vs Portsmouth
Round 4 - W 1-0 @ Queens Park Rangers
Round 5 - T 1-1 vs Birmingham
Round 5 - W 2-0 @ Birmingham (replay)
Quarters - W 5-2 vs Leicester City
Semis - W 5-1 @ Tottenham Hotspur
Final - W 2-1 vs Liverpool
Ramires and Juan Mata each scored 4 goals in Chelsea's 7 game title run.
Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba is showing significant signs of recovery after suffering a cardiac arrest during Saturday's FA Cup match against Tottenham Hotspur. The 23 year old spent two days in intensive care following his collapse on the field at White Hart Lane, but is now reportedly breathing independently and responding to family members. Still Muamba isn't out of the woods yet, as his condition remains serious and he'll continue to be monitored in the hospital. Bolton's match against Aston Villa scheduled for tomorrow has been postponed as a result of the tragedy. Fellow players have shown a tremendous outpouring of support over the past few days highlighted by former teammate Gary Cahill unveiling a Pray 4 Muamba shirt from under his jersey after scoring against Leicester City on Sunday.
Photo Credit: skysports.com
VONN COMES UP JUST SHY IN QUEST FOR 2000 POINTS
Photo Credit: chicagotribune.com
American Lindsey Vonn needed just a 13th place finish on Sunday to become the first female skier to earn 2000 points in a single World Cup season. Unfortunately, the 2012 overall champion didn't have luck on her side as she lost a pole at the start of her final run and ended up finishing in 24th earning no points. The disappointing finish to the season should in no way diminish what Vonn did this year though. Vonn won 12 of a possible 37 races, and won the Downhill title, Super G title and the Combined title en route to her record 1980 points. Vonn has captured the women's overall title in four of the past five years.
NCAA HOCKEY TOURNAMENT SEEDINGS OUT
Photo Credit: tampabay.com
Boston College (Northeast), North Dakota (West), Union (East) and Michigan (Midwest) are your four number one seeds in the 16-team 2012 NCAA Hockey Tournament. Last year's champion Minnesota-Duluth is the number 2 seed in the Northeast region. No school will be making its first-ever NCAA tournament appearance, but
UMass-Lowell is in the national tournament for the first time since 1996
and Ferris State qualified for just the second time in school history
and the first since 2003. If you're like me and have no idea where Ferris State is, it's in Big Rapids, Michigan which isn't to be confused with Grand Rapids, Michigan. Click here for a look at the rest of the bracket and the schedule. The first round starts Friday with the championship game in Tampa, Florida on April 7th.
ISNER A GIANT GIANT KILLER
Photo Credit: sport-enews.com
Big John Isner is finally starting to get recognized for more than just being really tall (he's 6'9") and for having played in the longest match in the history of Wimbledon. Over the past month and a half, Isner has defeated both Roger Federer (at the Davis Cup) and world number one Novak Djokovic (at the ATP BNP Paribas Open), a feat that no other player in the world can claim in 2012. The 26 year old former Georgia Bulldog has seen his ranking rise all the way to a career best #10 in the world.
DID YOU EVEN KNOW THE U.S. HAD A CRICKET TEAM?
Photo Credit: espncricinfo.com
The U.S. fell to 1-5 at the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifiers after getting thumped by Kenya this morning. The U.S. has one match remaining in Group Play where they'll take on Scotland (4-2) before they likely head to the 11th to 14th Place Play-Offs. If the current standings remain in place, that'll pair them up with Uganda, Hong Kong and Bermuda. The U.S.'s only victory in Group B came over Oman, the only team in the tournament yet to win a match. Afghanistan (6-0 Group A) and Namibia (6-0 Group B) lead their respective groups. The top two teams in the tournament qualify for the T20 World Cup held in Sri Lanka this September and October. The ten Full Member Nations of the ICC (Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe) have already automatically qualified.
TORRES BREAKS OUT OF SLUMP WITH BRACE
Photo Credit: football-talk.co.uk
Spanish striker Fernando Torres broke out of a 26-game goal-less stretch with 2 goals and 2 assists on Sunday as Chelsea defeated Leicester City in the FA Cup quarterfinals 5-2. Torres had not scored a goal in any competition since scoring a pair of goals against Belgium's Racing Genk on October 19th in the Champions League. Since that last goal, Torres had been on the field for 25 hours, 41 minutes without scoring. Chelsea has now won four straight since Roberto Di Matteo took over as interim manager after Andre Villas-Boas was fired.
HARPER DEBUT PUT ON HOLD
Photo Credit: washingtonpost.com
Those of you waiting to see Bryce Harper take the field for the Washington Nationals are going to have to wait a little bit longer. The 19 year old über-prospect was optioned to AAA Syracuse on Sunday where he will start the year. Harper certainly didn't play poorly this spring hitting .286 with a pair of doubles in 28 at bats, but he did strike out 11 times including 4 times against the Tigers on Sunday. Harper has just 109 minor league games under his belt in which he's hit .297 with 17 home runs and 26 stolen bases, and his lack of experience may have played a roll in his getting sent down. Still, despite the demotion, the Nats are still very high on Harper and he still figures to be their everyday centerfielder, possibility as soon as later this season.
Just an absolutely horrific moment in today's FA Cup Quarterfinal Matchup between Tottenham Hotspur and Bolton Wanderers. 23 year old Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba collapsed on the field a little over 40 minutes into the match and doctors spent ten minutes trying to
resuscitate him using a defibrillator on the pitch before taking him away on a stretcher. Thankfully, and somewhat miraculously, reports coming out of London are that Muamba is now breathing and in stable condition at the hospital.
Photo Credit: ibtimes.com
The whole incident hits pretty close to home for American soccer fans as Muamba is teammates with a pair of U.S. National Teamers, Tim Ream and Stuart Holden. The match obviously was abandoned and will be rescheduled for a later date. Thoughts and prayers to Fabrice, his family and his teammates as hopefully he makes a speedy recovery.
A pair of U.S. National Teamers, Tim Ream and Robbie Rogers, made debuts with their new clubs in England yesterday with drastically different results. Ream, who signed a three-and-a-half year deal with Bolton Wanderers late last month started and played a full 90 minutes in the Premier League side's 2-0 win over Millwall in 5th Round of the FA Cup. The former Red Bull defender was beaten once for a free header, but overall he looked comfortable in the middle of the Bolton defense. Meanwhile down in the League Championship Division, Rogers was somewhat less fortunate. Coming on as a second half substitute for Leeds United, the former Crew winger suffered a vicious head-to-head collision with Doncaster Rovers' Tommy Spurr and was taken off on a stretcher. It's been reported that Rogers is doing fine despite suffering a concussion, but there is no definitive timetable for his return. Leeds did win their match 3-2.
FINDLEY SCORES FOR FOREST
Robbie Findley scored for the first time since mid-November as Forest got a rare win defeating Coventry City 2-0. The 26 year U.S. National Teamer now has 6 goals this season across all competitions, but just 3 in 21 games in the League Championship. Nottingham Forest as a team has scored just 26 goals in 31 games this season, tied for fewest in the League Championship Division.
WAKEFIELD CALLING IT QUITS
Photo Credit: everydayweekender.com
After 19 Major League seasons, the last 17 of them with the Boston Red Sox, 45 year old Tim Wakefield has decided that it's time to call it a career. The versatile knuckleballer has done a little bit of everything for the Red Sox over the years serving as both a starter and a closer, and finishes his career with the third most wins in franchise history trailing only Cy Young and Roger Clemens. He's also the franchise leader in appearances (590), games started (430) and innings pitched (3006) and only 3 players - Carl Yastrzemski, Ted Williams and Dwight Evans - spent more time in a Red Sox uniform than he did. Wakefield was a part of two World Series winners (2004 and 2007), was an All Star in 2009 and finished with exactly 200 wins in his career.
BURNETT ON THE MOVE
Photo Credit: kare11.com
While the deal hasn't been finalized, the Pittsburgh Pirates and New York Yankees have agreed to a trade that would send much maligned right-handed pitcher A.J. Burnett to Pittsburgh. In return the Yankees would receive a pair of minor leaguers, right-handed reliever Diego Moreno and outfielder Exicardo Cayones. The Pirates will also only have to pay $13 million of the $31.1 million remaining on Burnett's contract. Burnett is coming off of an absolutely miserable 2011 season in which he posted the third worst ERA in the American League (5.15) for pitchers with at least 162 innings. Currently 3 years into a 5 year $82.5M deal, Burnett struggled to deliver in the Bronx. He posted just one winning season in three years with the Yankees and finished with a record of 34-35 with a 4.79 ERA since signing. With the additions of Hiroki Kuroda and Michael Pineda, the 35 year old Burnett became expendable and now the Pirates hope he's able to resurrect his career in the National League. As for the prospects the Yankees will be receiving neither will be impacting the big league club any time soon. Moreno, 25, split 2011 between Advanced A and AA appearing in 41 games while posting a 3.63 ERA. He struck out just over a batter an inning and held opposing hitters to a .218 average. Cayones, 20, spent last year in A Ball and while he hit well in the Gulf Coast League (.293 in 27 games), he was just 2 for 32 with 13 strikeouts in the New York Penn League.
LINSANITY TRIPPED UP BUT BOUNCES BACK
Photo Credit: latimes.com
A night after seeing their 7 game winning streak snapped against the lowly New Orleans Hornets, the Knicks rallied for a big home win today over the Dallas Mavericks. Jeremy Lin scored 26 points on Friday night, but turned the ball over a season high 9 times as the Knicks fell 89-85 to New Orleans for their first loss since Lin entered the starting lineup. While Lin took most of the blame, he wasn't the only one who struggled as the Knicks combined to make just 4 of 24 3-pointers and collectively missed 10 free throws in the loss. The Knicks bounced right back today though rallying from a 12 point third quarter deficit for a 104-97 win over the defending champion Dallas Mavericks. New York overcame 34 points from Dirk Nowitzki and Lin bounced back with his 4th double double in the last 7 games finishing with 28 points and a career high 14 assists as New York won for the 8th time in 9 games.
ARSENAL TITLE DROUGHT CONTINUES
Photo Credit: zimbio.com
Arsenal fell 2-0 against Sunderland yesterday in the fifth round of the FA Cup likely guaranteeing themselves a seventh consecutive year without a major trophy. Arsenal's last major title came back in 2005 when they won both the Premier League and the FA Cup, but since then they've suffered a series of disappointments. Already this season, they were knocked out of the quarterfinals of the Carling Cup by Manchester City, sit 17 points off the pace for the Premier League Title and are staring at a 4-0 deficit through one leg of their Round of 16 Champions League tilt with AC Milan.
Over the past year or so people have been beginning to question whether or not Clint Dempsey has supplanted Landon Donovan as the face of the U.S. National Team. While their was no doubt that during the World Cup it was Donovan's team, 2011 told a different story. Donovan scored just once for the U.S. while Clint Dempsey notched a team high 5 goals, including 3 during the Gold Cup. Dempsey also saw his game at the club level reach new heights when he set an American record with 12 goals in an English Premier League season. Dempsey's scoring prowess continued into this season with 15 more goals for Fulham across all competitions including a pair of hat tricks this month. While Donovan has still been productive - he scored 12 regular season goals for the Galaxy last year and added the winning goal in the MLS Cup Final - his accomplishments in Major League Soccer aren't viewed in the same light as what Dempsey's achieved in England. And suddenly there it was. Had Dempsey caught up to or even passed Donovan?
Photo Credit: pe.com
Based on what we saw today, and today alone, I think you'd have to say that the answer is no. Landon Donovan led Everton to a 2-1 win this afternoon over Clint Dempsey and Fulham in the 4th round of England's FA Cup.While Dempsey struggled to involve himself in the match, Donovan assisted on both Everton goals allowing them to overcome their early 1-0 deficit and advance in the tournament. He has now tallied 4 assists in 6 his matches with Everton since coming over on loan from the Galaxy. While the question about Dempsey vs Donovan isn't likely to go away any time soon, American soccer fans should be excited about the fact that their two biggest playmakers are playing at such a high level at the same time. With World Cup Qualifying just months away, this is exactly what the U.S. will need to earn themselves a ticket to Brazil in 2014.
Photo Credit: espn.go.com
What do you guys think? If you could only have one of them right now, which one would you take? Donovan? Or Dempsey?
Bis
for Bowl Update. And just like that we've got just one major bowl left to go. Seeing as the SEC plays against itself tonight, the below results are final for all of the other conferences.
C is for Crazy! I don't know how else to describe what happened in Denver yesterday. Tim Tebow completed just 10 passes, but those ten passes averaged over 30 yards per completion and the Broncos stunned the Pittsburgh Steelers 29-23 in overtime. Tebow threw for 2 touchdowns including the game clinching 80 yarder to Demaryius Thomas and ran for a third touchdown and the Broncos find themselves moving on to the Divisional Round of the AFC Playoffs. Now I don't think he can beat Tom Brady and the Patriots, but let's face it; I didn't think he could beat a hobbled Ben Roethlisberger and the top ranked pass defense either. It defies logic. That said, if don't have a vested interest in the team he's playing, how can you not pull for this guy?
D is for Donovan. It didn't take long for Landon Donovan to make an impact for Everton. Playing just his second match since being loaned to the Premier League club from the LA Galaxy, Donovan picked up an assist off a corner kick in Everton's 2-0 FA Cup win on Saturday over Tamworth of the Conference National, England's 5th tier of professional soccer. Donovan had a chance to make it 3-0 late in the match, but his attempt from distance struck the woodwork. Fellow American Tim Howard started in goal for Everton an made a pair of saves in the shutout win.
Photo Credit: goal.com
E is for Eli Manning. Eli's doing his best to make good on his statement that he's a Top 5 quarterback in this league. The younger Manning threw for 277 yards and 3 touchdowns in Sunday's 24-2 win over the Atlanta Falcons and has the Giants lined up for a rematch with the Packers in the Divisional Round. On a side note, has anyone ever seen a 24-2 football game before?
Photo Credit: sports.yahoo.com
Fis
for Fisher. Former Tennessee Titans head coach Jeff Fisher is expected to make a decision this week on where he's going to coach next season. The Dolphins and Rams are the frontrunners, but it isn't clear who has the edge at this point. Fisher spent 17 seasons as the head coach of the Oilers/Titans with a career regular season record of 142-120. He won three division titles and led the Titans franchise to their only Super Bowl appearance. And he has an amazing mustache.
Photo Credit: big-nasty.com
G is for Guzan. American keeper Brad Guzan made 6 saves including the stop of a Scott McGleish penalty in stoppage team as Aston Villa defeated Bristol Rovers 3-1 in FA Cup Action. Rovers, a League Two club (the 4th tier league in English Soccer), scored in the 90th minute and had a chance to cut the deficit to one when a penalty was awarded following a Villa handball two minutes later, but Guzan was all over McGleish's effort ending any threat of a Rovers comeback.
H is for Hat Trick. Fulham and Team USA's Clint Dempsey netted the first hat trick of his professional career on Saturday in Fulham's 4-0 FA Cup win over Charlton. Dempsey now has 12 goals in 28 matches across all competitions this season for the Cottagers, one shy of his career high set last season. Perhaps even more exciting for U.S. soccer fans though is that Fulham has drawn Everton in the tournament's next round which means Dempsey and Landon Donovan will go head to head.
I
is for Isaac Redman. The Steelers may be eliminated, but running back Isaac Redman couldn't be held responsible. Starting in place of the injured Rashard Mendenhall, Redman ran for a career high 121 yards on 17 carries and had a season best 21 receiving yards to go along with it in a losing effort.
Photo Credit: shreveporttimes.com
J is for Jarome Iginla. Iginla became the 42nd player in NHL history to score 500 goals on Saturday night when he scored what served as the game winner in Calgary's 3-1 win over the Minnesota Wild. Iginla, 34, has spent his entire 15 year NHL career with the Flames and became just the 15th player in NHL history to score 500 goals all with the same team.
Photo Credit: nhlsnipers.com
K is for Kevin Love. With 20 points and 16 rebounds in Sunday's 93-72 win over the Washington Wizards, Love now has 8 straight games with at least 20 points and 12 rebounds to start the 2011-12 season. Love is currently leading the NBA in rebounding with 15 a game and he's the league's 5th leading scorer averaging 25.4 per contest.
Photo Credit: greenwichtime.com
L is for the Los Angeles Clippers. Sure, they've only played 6 games, but the Clippers are in first place in the Pacific Division entering play tonight. The Clippers have not finished the season with a winning record since the '05-'06 campaign and have not won a division title in the history of their franchise dating back to 1970 when they were the Buffalo Braves.
Photo Credit: clippers.topbuzz.com
M is for Megatron. Calvin Johnson hauled in 12 passes for 211 yards and a pair of touchdowns in Detroit's 45-28 loss to the Saints on Saturday. In the Lions final two games this year, both losses, Johnson totaled 23 receptions for 455 yards. He had at least 200 receiving yards in 3 of his final four games.
Photo Credit: sports.yahoo.com
N is for New Coach. The Kansas City Chiefs announced Monday that Romeo Crennel is the official replacement
for the fired Todd Haley, removing the interim tag he bore for the last
three weeks of the regular season. Crennel was just 24-40 as head coach of the Browns from 2005-2008, however he went 2-1 as the interim coach in KC and was the only coach to beat Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers during the regular season.
Photo Credit: zimbio.com
O is for Omar Gonzalez. The 2011 MLS Defender of the Year's trip to Germany lasted all of one day when he tore a knee ligament during his first practice with Nuremberg. The 23 year old ironically was injured in a collision with Nuremberg's other American defender Timmy Chandler. Gonzalez is expected to have surgery this week and will miss most of if not all of the 2012 MLS season.
Photo Credit: soccerbyives.net
P is for Paul Scholes. With numerous injury problems this season, Manchester United was forced to bring 37 year old midfielder Paul Scholes out of retirement for Sunday's FA Cup match against rival Manchester City. United jumped out to a 3-0 lead thanks to a pair of goals from Wayne Rooney, but City fought back only to come up short by a final score of 3-2. City, who won the Cup last year lost for the first time at home in over a year as they were forced to play a man down for most of the match following Vincent Kompany's 12th minute red card. Scholes came on as a substitute in the 59th minute.
Photo Credit: thenational.ae
Q is for Quarterbacks. Matt Stafford has thrown for 900 yards and 8 touchdowns the past two weeks for the Lions... and he's been outplayed TWICE and has zero wins to show for it. Last week is was Matt Flynn who lit up the Lions secondary for 480 yards and 6 touchdowns and Saturday it was Drew Brees's turn to carve up the Detroit defense. Brees threw for 466 yards and 3 touchdowns as the Saints put up 35 points in the second half en route to a 45-28 win.
Photo Credit: grandhaventribune.com
R is for Rangers. The boys from Glasgow were captained by American Carlos Bocanegra and cruised to a 4-0 win over Arbroath in the Scottish Cup. Bocanegra has now acted as winning captain at least once for all four of his European clubs. Fellow American Maurice Edu assisted on the game winning goal.
Photo Credit: mlssoccer.com
S is for Steve Stricker. The American Golfer took home his 12th PGA Tour victory today when he shot a final round 69 and finished 23 under par to win Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Hawaii. Added bonus for me because I had Stricker on my fantasy golf team this week. Yeah, you heard me. Fantasy. Golf.
Photo Credit: espn.go.com
T is for Thierry Henry. Ten minutes into his return to Arsenal, Henry scored the only goal of the match giving Arsenal a hard fought win over Leeds United. The goal was Henry's 227th for Arsenal and first since 2007.
Photo Credit: guardian.co.uk
U is for U-23 Roster. Caleb Porter, the US Under-23 men's national team coach on Friday named a 22-man squad to participate in training camp at the Home Depot Center ahead of
CONCACAF's Olympic qualifying tournament. Some familiar names on the roster if you follow American soccer including Freddy Adu, Dilly Duka, Mix Diskerud, and Gale Agbossoumonde. The U-23's camp coincides with the Senior National Team's camp and the two sides will scrimmage on both the 13th and 17th before heading to Costa Rica for exhibition matches against Saprissa and Alajueluense on the 21st and 24th. Olympic Qualifying begins March 22nd.
Photo Credit: mlssoccer.com
V is for Victory. The Houston Texans, playing in their first postseason got their first postseason win after a 31-10 thumping of the Cincinnati Bengals. The Texans now head to Baltimore where they'll get another shot at the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens won their matchup during the regular season 29-14, but this will be a different looking Texans team than what Baltimore saw in Week 6. While Matt Schaub will be out, T.J. Yates will have Andre Johnson available to him. Joe Flacco threw for 305 yards in their last meeting while Ray Rice had 161 total yards on 28 touches.
Photo Credit: m.usatoday.com
W is for Washington Wizards. With Washington's 93-72 loss to Minnesota on Sunday afternoon, the Wizards have dropped to 0-8 on the season and remain the NBA's only winless team. A big reason for that has been the play of last year's Rookie of the Year John Wall. After a solid rookie campaign, Wall's numbers are down this year in virtually every category. The Wizards continue their search for win number one on Tuesday when they host the 3-5 Toronto Raptors.
X
is for Xavi. The Barcelona midfielder finished third in the voting for the FIFA Player of the Year behind Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo and his Barcelona teammate Lionel Messi. Messi, 24, won the award after receiving 47.9% of the vote. Ronaldo received 21.6% while Xavi took home 9.23%. Messi becomes just the third three-time winner of the award joining the Brazilian Ronaldo (1996-97 and 2002) and Frenchman Zinedine Zidane (1998, 2000 and 2003).
Photo Credit: playeroption.blogspot.com
Y is for Yankees. Former Yankees catcher Jorge Posada plans to retire after 17 seasons, all of them in pinstripes. Posada, 40, was a part of 4 World Championship teams with the Yankees and he ranks third all time among Yankees for most games caught with 1574. Posada hit 275 home runs, made 5 all star teams, caught David Wells' perfect game and will be remembered as one of the great Yankees. I'm glad he's opting to retire rather than try to catch on with say the Royals or something. Fair winds, Jorge.
Photo Credit: inquisitr.com
Z is for Zach Randolph. The Memphis Grizzlies big man got bad news on the injury front this week. Randolph, who hasn't played since hurting his knee on New Year's Day against the Bulls could miss an additional 8 weeks with a slight tear of the MCL in his right knee. Tough break for the Grizz who are 3-5 on the year and host red hot Oklahoma City on Tuesday.
