I Know the Score – Week 4

I’m picking four draws which seems a bit high. And I am picking Arsenal to win at Old Trafford which I’m not so sure of, a draw is probably more likely than a win against Manchester United. I think Chelsea will win easy against newly promoted Burnley but Liverpool will struggle against Bolton.

I Know the Score – Week 3 Result

Week 3: 105 points.
Total: 250 points.

My best week yet! And I wasn’t confident with these picks.

My biggest point getter this week was correctly picking the Arsenal-Portsmouth match and doubling it for a whopping 6o points. My worse pick was the Liverpool-Aston Villa match. I picked Liverpool to win 2-1 and Villa won 3-1 instead. This was Liverpool’s first loss a Anfield in 32 games. That was bad timing on my part, I guess.

Check back Friday for my Week 4 picks.

I Know the Score – Week 3

I don’t feel confident about this week’s picks, maybe it’s because I’m on a downward trend. I only earned 55 points last week after scoring 90 points the first week. Or maybe it’s because I have only two draws in the ten matches. It seems there should be a few more even games than just those two.

Any way here are the highlights of my picks, Arsenal will continue to win easy as they face Portsmouth at Ashburton Grove. Manchester Utd will continue to struggle and be drawn by Wigan. Chelsea will suffer their first loss against London rival Fulham. In the other London derby Tottenham will continue to win by defeating West Ham. At Anfield Liverpool are too strong to pick against them, even against a strong side like Aston Villa.

I Know the Score – Week 2 Result

Week 2: 55 points.
Total: 145 points.

After a 90 point first week I had a bit of a drop off with just 55 points in Week 2. The only two matches that I lost points on were Wigan v Wolves and Burnley Man Utd. Wolves won with just a single goal scored in the game and I predicted a 2-2 draw. I thought Burnley would put up a good fight against Man Utd but who predicted they would actually win? Not me, that’s for sure. The only match that I predicted correctly was Birmingham’s win over Pompey.

Check back tomorrow for my Week 3 predictions.

I Know the Score – Week 2

Chelsea will win but struggle against Sunderland. Wolves will still be on their newly promoted high and give Wigan a good match. Likewise Birmingham will win over woeful Pompey. However newly promoted Burnley won’t be so lucky in their home opener against mighty Manchester United. Tottenham are for real this season (unfortunately) and will win easy at Hull City. Liverpool will defeat Stoke City at Anfiled after last weekend’s loss at Spurs.

I Know the Score – Week 1

I never played I Know the Score before but I think I did OK in Week 1.

My only big miss was Spurs-Liverpool. I picked Liverpool to win and Tottenham won. My other misses were draws that I picked one side to win. On the positive side, I picked three matches exactly correct.

Surprise! Chelsea v Hull City on ESPN

American soccer fans awoke to a pleasant surprise this morning. On this first day of the English Premier League season, ESPN (apparently at the last minute) acquired the rights to the early match of the day which was Chelsea v Hull City.

This knowledge came to me late, about 65 minutes were elapsed when I tuned in. Earlier in the morning I had checked the TV schedule online and the digital cable on-screen guide but neither showed the soccer match on ESPN 2 HD. Bass Masters was listed. Luckily for me someone Twittered the joyous news that ESPN had the match and I was able to watch Drogba’s game winning goal in stoppage time for Chelsea.

A little Google search reveals that ESPN has the rights to the early Saturday matches (start time 7:45 am ET) and Monday matches (start time usually 2:55 pm ET). On Saturdays without an early match ESPN will have a 10:00 am ET game. Matches will air on ESPN 2 and it sounds like most will be in HD.

More information:  E.P.L. on ESPN in the U.S. — Starting This Weekend (NY Times), ESPN reaches deal to show English Premier League games in U.S. (USA Today).

Premier League Predictions 2009 – 2010

Top 5

1. Arsenal

2. Manchester United

3. Liverpool

4. Chelsea

5. Everton

Bottom 3

18. Hull City

19. Birmingham City

20. Burnley

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I’m also playing I Know the Score and Fantasy Football at the official Premier League web site and I’ll blog about that too.

US MNT Faded Fast in Mexico

Mexico 2 – 1 US MNT, World Cup Qualifying.

The United States scored early in the match at the Estadio Azteca stadium but then mysteriously seemed to go in a shell.

Both sides started strong right from the beginning of the match. Then in the eighth minute American forward Charlie Davies opened the scoring. He took a pass from Landon Donovan, dribbled a bit before putting the ball in the far side of the goal.

This goal seemed to wake up Mexico who controlled the ball and the game for the remainder of the match. Roughly ten minutes later Israel Macias Castro (19′) scored on a scorcher from 25 meters out to even the score for Mexico. The first half ended with the score tied 1-1.  The second half was more Mexico as the US managed a few counter attacks but no real sustained pressure. It looked like the US might escape with a draw but then late in the second half Miquel Sabah (82′) knocked in a wide open shot to earn the win for Mexico. If it wasn’t for the play of US goalkeeper Tim Howard Mexico would have won by a much more comfortable margin.

Fear not American soccer fans, the US should still qualify for the World Cup despite this loss. If the US MNT just wins their remaining two home games against El Salvador and Costa Rica then they will qualify for the World Cup next summer. They also have matches at Trinidad & Tobago and Honduras.

A point or three in Mexico would have been nice but it’s not the end of the world for World Cup qualification.

2009 Community Shield Overshadowed by Injury Debate

Chelsea 2-2 Manchester United
Chelsea win on penalty kicks (4-1).

Yesterday’s FA Community Shield has me excited for the start of the Premier League this weekend. It was an exciting and interesting match that unfortunately has been marred by Manchester United players and Sir Alex Ferguson complaining about the refereeing.

First the good news. Both sides played well, neither team seemed to just sit-back and let the play come to them. Manchester United fans, the future without Cristiano Ronaldo looks to be good. Wayne Rooney will not have to pick up the slack all by himself. Nani, who opened the scoring in the tenth minute, played well before leaving the match with a dislocated shoulder. Also Ben Foster stood tall in goal for the injured Edwin van der Sar.

So what happened to spoil an otherwise good game?

Just before Chelsea’s second goal in the seventy-first minute, the Blues’ Michael Ballack shouldered (or elbowed, depending on who you talk to) Man Utd’s Patrice Evra in the face. Play continued and shortly afterward Frank Lampard scored to put Chelsea ahead 2-1. It happened so fast that I don’t remember seeing the foul at the time. As Chelsea scored I do remember one of the commentators saying that Man Utd were basically down to nine men as another player was apparently down on the ground as well. (Wayne Rooney would eventually equalize for Man Utd with a goal in the final minute of play, how’s that for drama?)

Sure the replay shows the Man Utd whiners have a point, at the very least a foul should have been called on Ballack and the Red Devils awarded a free kick. However you know what? This is the human element entering the game. The players should have just said basically “Those are the unlucky breaks of the sport” and left it at that. Sir Alex Ferguson should have said the same thing publicly and then privately spoken with the league and referees about the lack of a call on the play in question.

Now going forward what can be done? Did either of the assistant referees see the foul? Could they have called such a foul if they had seen it? If not then maybe they should be given that authority. What should not be done is stopping play for a look at video to see if a foul was committed. Also we should not go back to the way it was several years ago when players would stop play on their own when a player went to the ground.

There, I’m done dwelling on the negative and I’m looking forward to the start of the Premier League this weekend.

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For the record, the goal scores were: Nani 10′ and Wayne Rooney 90′ for Man Utd; Ricardo Carvalho 52′ and Frank Lampard 71′ for Chelsea.