Match report: Catania 0 - Milan 2

• Goals scored: Huntelaar 90+3', Huntelaar 90+5'
• What happened: Klaas-Jan Huntelaar signed with Milan back in August. He rarely played, however, and, when he did, it did not go well. Many people believed that the signing of Huntelaar was a complete waste of money. Today, Milan went to Catania and played a rather dull match. Ninety minutes went by without any real scoring chances for either team. Huntelaar came on as a late substitute and then scored two goals in injury time, his first two goals of the season.
• What this match teaches us: We like Huntelaar.

Above: Huntelaar celebrates after scoring.

Below: Huntelaar's teammates congratulate him after scoring.

Highlights are below:

What I have been reading lately #39

Blood, Sweat, and Tea: Real-Life Adventures in an Inner-City Ambulance-- by Tom Reynolds

Tom Reynolds (real name-- Brian Kellett) is an emergency medical technician in London. He writes a blog about his job. Some of the posts from the blog were collected and published in this book. The book was very entertaining.

The Class-- by Francois Begaudeau

Francois Begaudeau was a teacher in Paris who wrote a novel about his experiences. The novel was then turned into a movie. I liked both the book and the movie.

Match report: Milan 1 - Marseille 1

• Goals scored: Borriello 10', Lucho Gonzalez 16'
• What happened: Both sides looked like they were trying to lose the match on purpose. Defenders failed to defend; midfielders turned the ball over; attackers missed wide open shots. Milan were lucky to get a draw.
• What this match teaches us: Match-fixing scandals can make us wonder whether out favorite players are incompetent or deceitful.
• What happens next: On December 8, Milan travel to Switzerland to play FC Zurich. If they win, they qualify for the next round of the Champions League. Marseille are at home against Real Madrid, who have already qualified for the next round. If Marseille tie or lose, then Milan moves on to the next round. The only way Milan cannot qualify for the next round is if they lose or tie and Marseille wins.

What I have been listening to lately #28

MLS Cup 2009-- Real Salt Lake 1 - LA Galaxy 1 (5-4 on penalties)

The new champions of the MLS are Real Salt Lake, who beat the LA Galaxy last night in the MLS Cup in Seattle on penalty kicks.

Above: Real Salt Lake fans on their way to the MLS Cup

To celebrate the victory, the King of Utah has declared a two day holiday of thanksgiving for later this week. He has also announced a general amnesty for all political prisoners in the kingdom of Utah.

For a match report, click here.

For highlights, click here.

For more photos, click here.

Below: Waiting for the match to begin

Match report: Milan 4 - Cagliari 3

• Goals scored: Seedorf 5', Matri 9', Lazzari 30', Borriello 38', Pato 40', Ronaldinho 62' (penalty), Nene 69'
• What happened: Milan scored first. Then Cagliari scored twice. Then Milan scored three times in a row. Then Cagliari scored.
• Which goal was the best: Pato's
• Milan players who could not play due to suspension: Nesta
• Milan players who played very well: Ronaldinho, Pato, Borriello, Dida
• Milan players who played very badly: Pirlo. He was basically unable to run, pass, or keep control of the ball.
• Milan players who played very, very badly: Kaladze. He filled in for Nesta and contributed to all three Cagliari goals.
• Things Kaladze seemed unable to do today: Mark opposing players, clear the ball, execute the offside trap.
• Milan players who made their first appearance of the season and who look eerily like Seedorf even down to the white shoes: Rodney Strasser
• What this match teaches us: Without Nesta, Milan's defense appears to be terrible.

Above: Borriello scores Milan's second goal

Below: Ronaldinho scores Milan's fourth goal

Below: Leonardo congratulates Ronaldinho

Highlights are below:

Six more teams qualified for the World Cup finals today

Six more teams qualified for the World Cup finals today. I believe that this means that all the spots have been filled. Here were the results over the two (or more) legs:

• France defeated Ireland on a controversial goal by William Gallas that followed an uncalled handball by Thierry Henry. (See photo above of French coaches celebrating.)
• Portugal beat Bosnia-Herzegovina.
• Slovenia upset Russia.
• Greece upset Ukraine.
• Uruguay beat Costa Rica.
• Algeria defeated Egypt.

The MLS Cup finals are set

Last night Real Salt Lake defeated the Chicago Fire 0-0 (5-4 on penalties) to earn a spot in the MLS Cup. Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando (above) stopped three penalty kicks at the end of the match to help his team advance. It is not known whether the King of Utah called Rimando personally to congratulate him on his heroic efforts.

The MLS Cup final will take place next Sunday in Seattle. It will feature Real Salt Lake versus the LA Galaxy.

Below: Chicago Fire fans during the match.

Picture of the day - Cameroon has qualified for the World Cup finals

Picture of the day - Egypt vs. Algeria

Above: Security guards in Cairo for today's World Cup finals qualifying match between Egypt and Algeria. Egypt won 2-0 to force a one-game playoff next Wednesday in Sudan to see which team goes to the World Cup finals.

One half of next weekend's MLS Cup final pairing has been set

The LA Galaxy defeated the Houston Dynamo 2-0 in extra-time last night and will be coming to Seattle for next weekend's MLS Cup. Los Angeles will face the winner of tonight's match between the Chicago Fire and Real Salt Lake.

Last night I rooted for the Dynamo, mostly because of their long-standing association with the Soviet secret police. Unfortunately, due to an inaccurately disallowed second-half goal, Houston lost.

Below: Galaxy goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts leaves the field during one of the two power outages that halted the game.

Match report: Lazio 1 - Milan 2

• Goals scored: Thiago Silva 21', Pato 35', Thiago Silva 64' (own goal)
• What happened: Milan scored two first half goals, both on headers. They let Lazio back in the match in the second half when they scored an own goal. It rained very, very hard off and on throughout the match.
• Why it is good that Thiago Silva scored today: He has played well this year (except for brief moments against both teams from Rome). He has almost scored twice in recent weeks (an incorrectly disallowed goal against Real Madrid in Madrid and hitting the crossbar against Parma). He deserved this goal. (See photos above and below of the goal and the celebration afterwards)

• How the own goal took place: Zarate shot from the top of the box. The ball hit Oddo and ricocheted right into the running feet of Thiago Silva, who neatly rolled into his own goal from ten yards out.
• How Lazio reacted to the own goal: Lazio was rejuvenated by the own goal and had several excellent shots. Only fantastic goaltending by Dida kept them from scoring again. Lazio has had a terrible season so far this year and would have really liked to come back to tie or win this game.

• Number of Milan players who used to be captain of Lazio: One (Oddo)
• Number of Lazio players who had lengthy careers at Milan: One (Cristian Brocchi)
• Number of Lazio players who have names that rhyme with another Lazio player: Two (Cristian Brocchi and Tommaso Rocchi)
• Number of well-known former Inter players who now play for Lazio: One (Julio Cruz)
• Number of Inzaghi brothers who played today: One (Filippo-- he managed to pick up a yellow card for shirt pulling within minutes of coming on as a substitute. On the bright side, he was only called for offsides once. Note: The photo above is not of Inzaghi.)
• What this match teaches us: Milan have become very dangerous even though they still do not seem to have put all the pieces of the puzzle together. They are now in third place.

Above: Pato celebrates his goal.

Below: Leonardo congratulates his players at the end of the match.

For highlights, watch the video below:

MLS playoff update #1

Real Salt Lake defeated the Columbus Crew last night 3-2 (4-2 on aggregate) to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals of the MLS playoffs. It is not clear how a team from Salt Lake City ends up in the Eastern Conference bracket, but that does not matter. What does matter is that the King of Utah will be happy when he receives news of this result.

Below: Real Salt Lake head coach Jason Kreis receives a hug.

Champions League update: a new team to root for

Rubin Kazan are from Russia, somewhere in the Tatarstan republic. They already have snow on the ground there. Their players appear to be a mix of Russians and Latin Americans. In their last two Champions League matches, they played Barcelona. They won 2-1 away, and, yesterday, the two teams played to a scoreless draw.

Below: Coach Kurban Berdyev celebrates his team's victory in Barcelona.

For highlights of Rubin Kazan's 2-1 victory, watch the video below:

For a more complete view of Rubin Kazan's first goal, click here.

Match report: Milan 1 - Madrid 1

• Goals scored: Benzema 29', Ronaldinho 35' (penalty)
• Why Milan received a penalty kick: Zambrotta tried to cross a ball in the box. Pepe slid across and blocked the ball with his hands raised. The ball struck either his arm or his armpit, and the referee awarded a penalty.
• Ronaldinho's penalty: High, hard, and to the corner. No goalie in the world could have stopped it.
• Number of Milan goals incorrectly disallowed: One. In the 36th minute, Pirlo was fouled at midfield. He quickly took the free kick and passed it up to Pato. Pato brought the ball down in the box, took a quick shot and scored. The referee waived off the goal. Why? Offside? Handball? Pushing a defender? None of these seemed to have applied.
• Overall tenor of the game: Exciting first half; tired, lethargic, and lackluster second half
• Milan players who played well: Ronaldinho hustled at both ends of the field, made some nice passes, and scored an excellent penalty. Ambrosini played excellent defense, taking the ball off Kaka at least three times. (His offensive play was not as good, however.)
• Milan players with the power to both frighten and amaze: Dida. On the goal, he gave up a rebound off a shot by Kaka. The rebound went straight to Benzema who scored. Sometimes he seemed incapable of catching the ball. On the other hand, his injury time save against Raul at the end of the game was outstanding.
• Milan player who got knocked around a lot by Madrid: Pato
• Madrid player who got knocked around a lot by Milan: Pepe
• Other rumors about Milan: Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi appears willing to sell AC Milan if the right bidder can be found.
• What this match teaches us: Soccer players play many games each season and get tired after awhile.

Below: Ambrosini takes the ball away from Kaka.

More from yesterday's Serie A action

Yesterday when I posted the videos of Napoli fans and announcers watching their team play Juventus last year, I did not realize that Napoli was playing Juventus in Turin later that same day. A strange coincidence...and Napoli came from two goals down to beat Juventus 3-2.

Below: Datolo and Lavezzi celebrate a Napoli goal

In addition, I was able to find a photograph of Borriello's second goal against Parma yesterday. If you look carefully, you will notice that he scored with his left foot. In fact, both of his goals were scored with his left foot-- his far weaker foot, in my opinion.

Match report: Milan 2 - Parma 0

• Goals scored: Borriello 12', Borriello 90+3'
• What happened: Milan scored early. I spent the rest of the game dreading a repeat of Wednesday's blown lead against Napoli. Then Milan scored again.
• Who set up Borriello's goals: Ronaldinho made nice passes on both plays.
• About Parma: This is their first year back in Serie A, and they are doing quite well. Prior to yesterday's match, they were in fourth place. One of their strikers is Alberto Paloschi, whose contract is co-owned by Milan and Parma.
• Dida's game: Dida played quite well, with an excellent save on a long shot and another on a close header.
• Milan players who have returned from injury: Gattuso
• Milan players who were injured during the match: Antonini
• Strangest yellow card I have ever seen: Ronaldinho received a yellow card in the 42nd minute. The ball had gone out for a Milan throw-in. Ronaldinho went to take it. Before he could get the ball, another Milan player got a different ball from the ball person and threw it in. When Ronaldinho looked up to throw his ball in, he saw that there already was a ball on the pitch. He dropped his ball in such a way that it also rolled onto the field. The referee had to stop play due to there being two balls on the pitch, and he gave Ronaldinho a yellow card for delay of game.
• What this match teaches us: Always score more goals, especially late in the game.

Below are highlights--

What I have been reading lately #38

Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby

Fever Pitch is Nick Hornby's account of being an Arsenal fan from 1968 to 1992, when the book was written. It is definitely the best book ever written about being a sports fan; it is probably the best book ever written about sports; it may be the best book ever written. I have read it five times-- 1998, 2002, 2005, 2008, and 2009.

Since 1989, I have kept a list of all the books I have read. Here are the books I have read more than twice*:

Books I have read three times:

• The Long Night of Francisco Sanctis by Humberto Constantini
• My Last Sigh by Luis Bunuel
• Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
• Ball Four by Jim Bouton
• Confessions of a Raving, Unconfined Nut: Misadventures in the Counter-Culture by Paul Krassner

Books I have read four times:

• Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
• The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Books I have read five times:

• Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby

* The number of books I have read twice is at least sixteen, if not more.