Penalty Kicks

FC Barcelona was born in 1899 and since then, the team has built a legacy that is hard to follow. Their motto, “Mas Que un Club,” or “More than a Team,” summarizes what FC Barcelona has given to its country and the world. Not only are they a great club, but the team has consistently had some of the world’s best players on their team. While Real Madrid may claim it is the best football club in Spain, FC Barcelona has been putting up some strong competition and in the last decade, may have claimed that title.

Star Players

For as long as the club has been in existence, FC Barcelona has had on their squad some of the top football players in the world. Going as far back as 1979, the team was able to procure the likes of Diego Maradona from Argentinean team Boca Juniors for a world record fee of £5 million. That was also the era in which Barcelona beat their long-time rivals Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey.

But that was not the highlight of the club’s successes. Barcelona picked up star Ronaldinho, Brazil’s uncontested best player, in 2004. In the 2004-2005 season, the club won both the Supercopa de España and La Liga, in addition to having Ronaldinho (midfielder) win the FIFA World Player of the Year award. They repeated that stupendous winning campaign in the 2005-2006 season and began getting recognized as a top European club.

For the following couple of seasons, Barcelona seemed to lack the push that made them champions. Then in 2009, they regained their momentum. Deco and Ronaldinho were and Andres Iniesta, Xavi and Lionel Messi were in. That year, Barcelona won the Copa del Rey title and then went on to beat Read the rest of this entry »

The San Jose Earthquakes are a proven entity within MLS. Before making an evaluation of whether or not the San Jose Earthquakes can make it to the playoffs, you need to make sure that you are aware of the roster moves that they have made in the past. The truth of the matter is that the biggest question associated with the San Jose Earthquakes may in fact be whether or not they happen to have adequate goal tending. You have to have a good person on goal, particularly as your main defenders either begin to age or happen to find it necessary to focus on specific parts of the game. San Jose has too many holes to win a Championship this year.
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Jon Busch is someone who has fallen under a certain amount of criticism during his career as a goaltender, both in the professional and collegiate ranks. There are a lot of people who are always going to blame the goalie despite other aspects of the game that may be at fault for the goal being scored. Andrew Weber may view the San Jose Earthquakes goal-tending competition to be quite compelling. You have to find a way to make sure that defenders like Tim Ward and Bobby Burling happen to be extremely dedicated to the concept of defeating teams like the Seattle Sounders. You want to also make sure that a quality defender like Bobby Burling is able to become the potential star that he can be and it certainly would make the franchise more viable for years to come as fans have a number of reasons to come to the games.

San Jose is currently 1-1 on the season and many people are going to have to focus on their lack of consistent goaltending. If the General Manger of the San Jose Earthquakes wants to be able d to

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The 2010 season was not a pleasant season for Chivas USA. In fact, for the Carson, California based team 2010 was a season that they just wanted to forget happened. After four straight seasons Chivas took a huge step down finishing last in the Western Conference with the season worst record in Major League Soccer, 8 wins, 18 loses and four ties.

No wonder the off season saw Chivas fire first year head coast Martin Vasquez and replace him with Robin Fraser. The fact is, Chivas wants to move forward and get back to their winning ways, which maybe harder said then done in the rough and temple Western Conference. When you are in a conference that send 6 of the 8 playoff teams last year and may send more this year with ten teams qualifying, you need to start winning and start winning now.

So will Chivas USA be able to contend in 2011? It depends how the new look team looks

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As with most expansion teams in any sport, the 2010 season was a rough one for the Philadelphia Union. While they were not the worst team in Major League Soccer (they finished three points ahead of Chivas USA and nine points ahead of D.C. United), they still finished 15 points out of the MLS playoffs. With that said, the team, which was lead by coach Piotr Nowak, did show some moments of great soccer.

Arguably the best player on the team during the 2010 season was forward Sébastien Le Toux who notched 14 goals and 11 assists, both good enough for place in the top ten for the league. Claimed in the expansion draft from the Seattle Sounders, the French native had a breakout season for the Union and comes into the 2011 season as arguably their best all around player.

In soccer, it’s sometimes hard to recognize the “best player” on a team, due to the fact that it’s not all about scoring. When you

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I think there is no sports fan in the world who wouldn’t hear about Manchester United. Naturally, having a star like David Beckham playing in their ranks helped the Reds to spread their fame but the club has a longer, and even more colourful history behind itself.

Today the club is perceived as one of the richest soccer clubs in the world however, at the time of it foundation, back in 1878 its first team members were poor railroad workers from Lancashire and Yorkshire railway.
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Chelsea was scrapped by many people I think. They haven’t won a single match on the road since October and I think were no longer considered a serious team by many.

That is why their recent trashing of Bolton in a massive 4 to 0 game last Sunday may actually change how many think about this once really powerful team.
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The Bobcats want a matchup versus 1 of their favorite competitors will help them prevent dropping ten consecutive away from home for the 1st occasion within 3 seasons .

Charlotte , who’re again anticipated to be not having Gerald Wallace , are trying to defeat Minnesota for the 8th occasion within 9 games Wednesday evening at the Target Center .

Wallace re-aggravated his ankle in workout sessions Sunday & is anticipated to skip a games , as per coach Paul Silas . the Bobcats ( 11 – 21 ) are 1 – 5 missing their 2010 All Star this year .

Wallace , putting in 16 . 5 points , & starting C Nazr Mohammed ( knee ) rested on the sidelines Monday , & the beat-up Bobcats had almost no opportunity versus recently potent the Heat .

The Bobcats dropped 96 – 82 , losing for the 2nd consecutive time following winning their 1st 2 under Silas . Stephen Jackson got a club best twenty-two points & D . J . Augustin put in Read the rest of this entry »

The Jazz are hot thanks to Deron Williams & solid scoring depth. A trip from the possibly shorthanded Bucks may not present much of an challenge.

Williams will try to assist Utah increase their winning streak to 6 by carrying on their home court control of the Bucks on Monday evening.

The Jazz (13 – 5) have picked up 13 of 16 after starting the year having straight uneven defeats. The present 5 game winning streak is the 2nd of this pro-longed hot streak.

Utah, who’ve kept competitors to an average of 91 .4 points within their previous 5 wins, last picked up 6 straight during a 9 game streak January 20th to February 9th .

Williams, the squad leader having 21 .9 points & 9 .9 dishes per game, has been a tremendous example recently. The All Star guard is throwing in 58 .7 % during the previous 3 matchups while putting in 27 .0 points & 10 .7 dishes.

He drew nothing but net on 8 of 14 attempts Sunday, completing with twenty-six points to lead 6 Jazz players in double digits within a 109 – 97 away from home victory against the Los Angeles Clippers .

Utah are currently Trying for a solid beginning to their year – high 6 game set of games at home, & playing The Bucks (6 – 10) should be an easy way to achieve that . They have picked up 8 consecutive home matchups with Milwaukee, keeping them Read the rest of this entry »