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1. EPL
2. La Liga
3. Mexican Football
4. Futbol Argentino
5. Champions League
Mexico’s classic club, America defeated Atlas (3-1) in the 1st leg quarter final on Thursday and will take the lead home to Aztec Stadium for the 2nd leg this Sunday in the Mexican championship.
It was the Argentine combo of Lopez and Vuoso that provided the early fireworks as both strikers (despite Atlas’ 5 defender system) found the back of the net in the early minutes and put the contest out of reach for the shell-shocked Jalisco crowd.
Garduno’s old fashioned 4-3-3 system paid dividends as Lopez (playing as the left winger) found himself alone at the back post in the 5th min and fired home a brilliant strike that squeezed right beneath the keeper. The build up and cross from the right traveled across the box uncontested, falling to the Argentine’s clinical technique.
Vuoso hit an equally brilliant running left-foot volley from the edge of the penalty area in the 19th min. and then celebrated the train with fellow teammates, enjoying some gamesmanship with the quality of the strikes. Germen Villa (adding to Atlas’ troubles) then scored an unanswered 3rd goal in the 58th min. with a blistering blast setup by Lopez.
Atlas, however, forced a penalty as America’s defender and captain, Duilio Davino played a handball in the box. Atlas players petitioned hard that as the last man, Davino should be shown the red card, but it was America who got the last say as Ochoa saved Colombian striker Hugo Rodallega’s week effort.
And though Ochoa was called upon a number of times to keep America’s lead intact, the Columbian was unlucky again as his header came back off the crossbar. Atlas finally clawed back a slight life-line though as Rafael Murguia pulled one back in the 73rd min.
The big boys of English soccer will face each other in a crucial match this weekend as Manchester United host Chelsea at Old Trafford on Sunday. With Man. United at the top of the league, Chelsea is chasing the leader, a situation that they haven’t found themselves in for the past few years.
Both clubs are coming off mid-week defeats in the Champions League; however, Chelsea is already guaranteed a walk through to the next round, while Manchester United will face Benfica on Dec. 6th in a rubber-match to try and book their place into the next phase.
In the EPL season, on the other hand, it is a different story as Manchester United has pushed out to a 3 pt. lead over Chelsea in the Championship race and will be hoping to push the lead to 6 pts. with a victory on Sunday.
Both teams are powerful and capable of victory, but the key to the match will be Chelsea’s defense, and the way they deal with players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Ryan Giggs on the wing. As for Chelsea, their wing play is not as potent as a few seasons ago when Robben and Duff were slicing up defenses.
While Chelsea will probably play a hard, powerful game of attrition and look to counterattack, Man. U can keep the Chelsea defense unsettled, and if Saha and Rooney are on their games, they will be able to dictate the tempo and finish the goals.
Celtic has progressed, for the first time in the club’s history, through the opening group stage of the Champions League after their shock (1-0) victory over Manchester United. Gordon Strachan helped Celtic finally put one over on their EPL nemesis, Sir Alex and the Red Devils, leaving the EPL giants with it all to do in the final group stage match against Benfica 
on Dec. 6th at Old Trafford.
Playing at Celtic Park, the Bhoys had their crowd to thank, as the club’s lack of quality never deterred the fans from voicing their belief. With the game pushing closer-and-closer to a draw, Nakamura did the unbelievable by curling in a free-kick past Man. United’s towering keeper, Edwin Van der Saar.
While the foul leading to the free-kick was questionable, the Japanese International’s blast left to mistake, sending Celtic Park into a frenzy as the Bhoys went into the lead. Celtic had to hold on for dear life though and was considerably lucky to come away with the victory. Rooney played in Saha, who was caught in two minds between offside and score and was thwarted by the onrushing Boruc.
Saha should have then scored the leveler from the penalty spot as Celtic was adjudged to have committed a hand ball in the box when a Man. U free-kick was deflected indeliberately from a defender challenging for a block. The Celtic keeper again made an unbelievable stop and silenced the usually superior English side.
At the moment Didier Drogba is enjoying the best form of his career and looks to be scoring almost at will. Coming off a hat-trick against Watford and an International winner against Sweden in the mid-week, Drogba looks set to put on 
another goal scoring performance for the faithful at Stamford Bridge.
Many of “The Drogba” goals this season have been stunners, but not only is the Ivorian striker leading Chelsea scorers with 8 EPL goals, he is also turning provider, setting up his fellow teammates to also be amongst the goals.
Chelsea, 3 pts. adrift of Man. United, will host West Hamm, a team trying to turn the corner on their poor start to the season. Pardew’s men sit in 16th place just 2 pts. from the drop zone. While they defeated Arsenal (1-0) two weeks ago, the Hammers are coming off a (1-0) defeat to Middlesbrough and look certain to get a hammering this weekend.
Newcastle travel to Emirates stadium this Saturday and face a tall order in the hopes to keep Glenn Roeder at the helm. With Ian Dowie already being sacked by Charlton Athletic for their abysmal start to the season, one wonders if it is open 
ground for managerial dumping.
It’s going to take much more than effort and heart for Newcastle to pull anything out of their match against the Gunners as the Magpies have not scored in their last three games. Roeder will be hoping that Damien Duff will finally explode into form, but they still have a striker dilemma as Obafemi Martins is just recovering from hamstring troubles. Goalkeeper, Shay Given, may also be back between the posts after his horrible abdominal injury (He played in Ireland’s mid-week (5-0) Euro-victory against San Marino).
Arsenal looks to be boosted by the return of the forgotten mid-fielder Freddie Ljungberg and Brazilian strong man, Julio Baptista, though Gilberto is ruled out for family reasons, and Rosicky will be out with a hamstring strain.
While the mid-week’s International fixtures provided both Euro 2008 flavor, as well as International friendly flair, the accolades go primarily to Robbie Keane, Eduardo, and Simao for their contributions to the only thing that matters in competitive football matches—the score-line. Robbie Keane and Eduardo both bagged hat-tricks while Simao hit a brace in
Euro 2008 qualifying encounters.
Croatia’s naturalized-Brazilian, Eduardo hit for three as Croatia tipped Israel (4-3) to lead the pack in a very tight group race that also sees Russia catapult England in the pecking order of Group E with their (2-0) victory over Macedonia. The Tottenham striker also scored three in Ireland’s (5-0) cruise over San Marino. While the result leaves the Irish still third from bottom in Group D, they have at least restored some Irish pride with two recent victories.
Portugal clawed back some hope as their (3-0) victory over Kazakhstan leaves them only 4 pts. off the lead (though still in 4th spot) of Group A.
Other notable scorers in the mid-week International Friendlies were Rooney, Drogba, and Kaka as all strikers found the net for their country. Rooney finally scored for England in their (1-1) draw on the road in Holland as Van der Vaart pulled a late leveler for the Dutch. Drogba scored the game winner in (1-0) victory over Sweden, and Kaka scored in the (2-1) victory over Switzerland.
Click Here to Listen to this Week’s Episode
1. MLS Cup 2006 Finals
2. Bundesliga
3. EPL
4. Euro 2008 Qualifiers
5. Worst Player Plaudits
6. Best Player Plaudits
