Leicester City vs Manchester United Preview

The top two teams of the Barclays Premier League will battle tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. at King Power Stadium, in Leicester.

The Foxes haven't lost a game since Sept. 26, falling to Arsenal 5-2 at home: their only loss of the season. On the other hand, last time the Devils lost was back on Oct. 4th. Guess who they lost to? Arsenal (3-0).

Stop reading, let's have a big round of applause for Arsenal. They lost their last BPL game to West Brom 2-1, but hey, they trashed the two best teams in the league. They're the team that deserves the trophy so far in my eyes.

Leicester is coming from a 3-0 win against Newcastle, in which Jamie Vardy tied Ruud van Nistelrooy's record of scoring in 10 consecutive Premier League games. If Vardy scores tomorrow... I don't know what to say here... Queen Elizabeth will smile.

And for United-- hold on, United is actually in 2nd place. Remember how they started their season? They lost to Swansea, there was this big Rooney's not scoring issue, they lost to PSV 2-1 in the Champions League back on Sept. 15. And just recently on Oct. 28, Middlesbrough knocked them out of the League Cup.

How in the soccer world is United in second place in the EPL and in second position in their Champions League group? Luck? I mean just last Saturday they beat Watford with a 91st minute own goal. United played 22 games in all competitions so far this year, 12 of these games are one-goal lead victories and  0-0 or 1-1 ties. Even their last game, they tied o-o to PSV.

Luck? No, that's not luck at all, soccer fans. It's called not letting the other team score, in other words: good defense. United is the only team in England with single-digit goals conceded, they conceded nine goals.

This brings us to our first Player to Watch, the man in front of United's impenetrable's goal, David De Gea. Remember how earlier in the season, Van Gaal wasn't playing him because he wanted to leave the club?

Leicester's Player to Watch is no one else but the guy who started his professional career in the English 8th tier at 21, Jamie Vardy. After tying Van Nistelrooy's record, the forward tweeted:

Jamie Vardy ‏@vardy7  Nov 21

To every single person that has supported me and never doubted me...Thank you.....I'm still pinching myself!

6,818 retweets12,172 likes

Forget El Clasico from last week, Leicester City vs Manchester United is the game to watch. If you can predict the right score, Read The Game has a prize for you.

Kearney Bags a Brace to Give Manhattan a 2-0 Win Over Shamrock

 
 
        November 21, 2015 
                  8:00 PM
                    
          Randall's Island

                       
                                    2   --   0            



Simon Kearney 5', 55'
                                                                   STATISTICS

                       11 (4)                                  SHOTS (ON GOAL)                            7 (2)
                         3                                        CORNERS                                             1
                        18                                       FOULS COMMITED                            19
                          3                                       YELLOW CARDS                                 1
                         0                                        RED CARDS                                         0
                         1                                        OFFSIDES                                              4

Simon Kearney bags a brace to push Manhattan Celtic past Shamrock SC as the two Irish based clubs clashed in the Cosmopolitan Soccer League's first division.

Coming into this game, NY Shamrock SC were red hot of a two game winning streak while Manhattan Celtic F.C. hadn't won a game since Oct. 11th.

Manhattan went against the odds and defeated Shamrock SC 2-0 Saturday night at Randall's Island.

Kearney netted one in each half and the defense behind him was rock solid all night long, limiting Shamrock to only two shots on goal.

"It was nice to get the three points, good two goals,"  Kearney said after the game. "The team played well, it's all [about] the team's performance, anything else is micro, I would say."

Though they gained three points, Manhattan remain in fifth place with 12 points. Shamrock remain in the same position as well, sitting in fourth place with 14 points-- throwing away the opportunity to jump to third place over Everton FC Weschester Eagles after this loss.

Manhattan pressed Shamrock from the start. Their effort was rewarded with an early lead.

Shamrock's pressured right back Santiago Rigby released the ball back to Stuart Colbert in his own box. Colbert played the ball across the goal, his pass was intercepted by Kearney, who blasted the ball past keeper Julio Tsasse in the fifth minute.

Shamrock came close to equalize just one minute later. Darren Freeman's freekick looked like it was curling in the lower far post but Ryan Katzfey dived at full stretch to keep his side on top.

Micheal McGreevey also attempted to level things up for Shamrock as he sprinted to a through ball with only keeper Katzfey left to stop him on a couple of occasions in the first half. But McGreevey was denied by the referee's late whistle for an offside, again  and again.

Thus, Manhattan had  a 1-0 advantage heading to the break.

10 minutes after the restart, Kearney would complete his brace. Aboubacar Kaba was brought down from about 23 yards out.

Scott Rowling stepped over the freekick and hit an inswiging ball, that Ibrahima Faye attacked with a glancing header. His header bounced in front of the far post for Kearney to tap in the net.

When asked about his goal, Kearney said: "I always expect to get the ball... This is the almighty center back [pointing at Faye]  who laid everything on the play from a set piece so you always expect him to win it and if he doesn't win it, he'll tell you why not."

Shamrock's only two chances to cut the lead down were: Zach Gosse's 67th minute glancing header that went inches wide and Tom Manz's strike, that whistled past the wrong side of the post as well in the 81st minute.

Despite these two chances the Celtics defense was spotless. Defender Faye was content of the clean sheet, "It [the clean sheet] was good. We tried our best, we did what the coaches was telling us in practice. We came in the game and manipulated, so we got the result."

It could've been 3-0 but Kaba missed a golden opportunity late in the game. The forward was one-on-one with keeper Gavin Joyce. Joyce threw himself down on the turf to save Kaba's shot with his foot.

3-0, 2-0, either way Manhattan walk out of the park victorious. "We're very happy today with the team's performance," coach Matthew Kane said. "Our movement without the ball was excellent, we gave a lot of options, and before that's where we struggled.

"I thought defensively without the ball we were superb, and that's what won the game today."

Manhattan will try to keep up this momentum as they face NY Pancyprian Freedoms on Dec. 13. On the other hand, Shamrock  travel to Tibbet Brook Park to take on league leaders Lansdowne Bhoys on Dec. 12 at 8 p.m.

 

European soccer leagues recap-countdown

The most worn soccer number is 10. You ever saw a team without a number 10? Exactly. What we're going to do today is recap this weekend's European soccer leagues from the most worn soccer number to the most worn keeper number.

You might want to keep reading past four, the top three goals end the countdown.

10. Ten for: Barcelona beat Real Madrid 4-0 without their number 10, Lionel Messi, in their starting lineup.

Messi subbed in the game in the 77th minute when the score was already 4-0. Luis Suarez had a brace while Neymar and Andres Iniesta scored a goal each.

Isco was red-carded for kicking Neymar on his left knee after the Brazilian bolted past him. Barca grows their gap over Madrid on top of the table to six points.

9.  Nine for Leicester City's number nine Jamie Vardy. Vardy scored against Newcastle in a 3-0 victory on Saturday. With this goal he equals Ruud Van Nistelrooy's record of scoring in 10 consecutive Premier League games.

Vardy broke Nistelrooy's record in grand fashion, wait till you get to number 1.

8. Eight for: Leicester is on top of the Premier League, appreci8 don't 8.

7. Seven for Juventus beat Milan 1-0 to push them down to 7th place in the Serie A. Paulo Dybala scored for Juve in the 65th minute. His goal is the second best goal of the week (see number 2).

6. First place Russian leaders CSKA Moscow lost to FC Krylia Sovetov Samara 2-0 at home. FC Krylia just came out of regulation. Six for: that game started at 6:00 a.m. (U.S time) on Saturday, I watched it in my sleep.

5. Five for: Inter Milan is looking like the team they were five years ago, they're on top of the Serie A after beating Frosinone 4-0.

4. Four for: Liverpool beat Manchester City 4-1 on Saturday at the Eithad Stadium in the Premier League's must-see fixture. Philippe Coutinho, Roberto Firmino, Martin Skrtel and Manchester City defender Eliaquim Mangala scored for Liverpool (yes, a City player netted for Liverpool).

Sergio Aguero scored Manchester City's consolation goal.

Top 3 goals:

3. Diego Costa's goal vs Norwich. Costa scored against Norwich like a boss, just watch his reaction after the goal.

2. Paulo Dybala's goal vs. Milan. Dybala's finish is good but Paul Pogba's flick pass to Sandro to start it up is even better. Yes, a pass can be better than a goal.

1. Vardy's goal vs Newcastle. Five straight passes, nutmeg then a cool finish by Vardy; that's how you win goal of the week.

0. It's Monday, go back to work.

Brazil's History Repeats Itself

Why did  Neymar cut his hair two months ago? To score like Ronaldinho. Looking like Ronaldinho.

Neymar flicked the ball over a Villareal defender and scored to give Barcelona a 3-0 victory today.

16 years ago, Ronaldinho flicked the ball over a Latvia defender and scored to give Brazil a 3-0 victory. With the same exact hairstyle! 

Are you struggling to decide which one is better too? I'm talking about the hairstyle not the goals.

City College Is Crowned 2015 CUNYAC Champions After Defeating CSI 2-1 in Double Extra-time

Mostafa Haridi hammered down a 103rd minute header to hand City College the CUNYAC trophy after a 2-1 victory over Staten Island at Brooklyn College Soccer Field on Saturday night.

Syed Haider nabbed the first goal of the final, giving CCNY an early lead. Emmanuel Agboola netted the equalizer for the Dolphins in the 61st minute before Haridi's winner.

After a marvelous pre-game presentation, the first chance of the night fell to the Dolphins in the third minute. Bryan Evo perfomed an acrobatic bycle kick but only to see his shot whistle just outside of the post.

Four minutes later, City went ahead with a deja vu goal. Anthony Scarallo sent a sizzling long throw in the 18-yard box. Defender Haider rose to head Scarallo's throw in the far post, leaving CSI keeper John Gioeli no chance to get a hand on it.

Scarallo's long throw has been one of CCNY's maneuver to find the back of the net, the Beavers scored three goals from long throw this season, including Clifford Leriche's opener in the semifinal against Brooklyn last week.

City were inches to bag a second one as Christopher Lovelle collected Augustine Amissah's rebound, and hit a screamer that was deflected just outside of the net after the half hour mark.

Number one seed CSI ended the first half more like the CSI we were used to in the regular season, combining passes in the attacking third. But they failed to feed the ball to their strikers, their best chance was when Agboola whipped the ball a little over the bar in the 36th minute after twisting and turning past a few CCNY defenders.

The Beavers continued to look for a second goal in the second half. In the 64th minute of play, winger Lanfia Diaby hit a low cross to his captain Abdul Abdulai. Abdulai one-timed the ball with his preferred right foot, the junior groaned as his shot was this close to kiss the net.

Besides City's dominance, Staten Island pulled out an equalizer after Tarek Emam tackled the ball from Aaron Schoenfelder and charged down City's open defense for a counter attack. The midfielder crossed the ball to an unmarked Agboola, who took a touch and calmly shot the the ball away from keeper Maxwel Berkow and in the net.

Both teams battled for a winner in the remaining 30 minutes of regulation but this year's championship was destined to go to extra-time. Staten Island came close to scoring twice in the first extra-time, of Marcin Klin's close range effort which was blocked by Scarallo and his long strike that went just over the cross bar in the 100th minute.

However, the second extra-time period was City's, thus the CUNYAC Championship. Schoenfelder sent an inswinging corner kick in the box. Haridi leaped and hammered the ball down to the left corner, which saw Gioeli helpless in the net.

The 2015 CUNYAC trophy will be nowhere else but in City's trophy cabinet. Haridi was named MVP of the CUNYAC Championship. The Beavers would celebrate the night out but their road doesn't end here, next up for them is the NCAA DIII regional tournament.

The Three Top Scorers of the English Premier League

Scoring has been interesting in England so far this season. Not the actual goals but the players who've been scoring them. The two top scorers in England play for Leicester. Leicester! And the third top scorer plays for Watford. Watford!

Leicester just got promoted to the EPL last season and Watford are fresh off the Championship. How unusual is this? No, Aguero and Costa didn't transfer to Leceister and Sanchez doesn't play Watford now.

The three top scorers in the Barclays Premier League after Week 11 are: Jamie Vardy (Leceister, 11),  Riyad Mahrez (Leceister, 7) and Odion Ighalo (Watford, 7).

Vardy scored four goals last season. He already doubled his goal tally from last season not even halfway through this season. He scored in 8th straight consecutive EPL games with 10 goals, Chelsea scored 11 goals in their last eight Premier League games. Don't laugh or Mourinho will come for you.

Let's take a look at Vardy's road to making it to the Premier League. Vardy was released by Sheffield Wednesday when he was 16, the next year he joined Stockbridge Park Steels youth academy. He made their senior team at 21 to play in the 8th tier of English soccer-- football, I should say. Three years later, in 2010, he transferred to Halifax Town who play in the 5th tier.

He spent one year at Halifax (29 goals) before transferring to Fleetwood Town at 24 years of age. Fleetwood play in the 3rd tier. After one season at Fleetwood, he was signed by Leicester who were in the second tier then. Leicester got promoted to the Premier League in 2014.

The next season, which is now, Vardy is the top scorer of the EPL. The guy started from the 8th tier at 21! Who else cried reading this?

Vardy's teammate, Mahrez, has somewhat of a similar story. He was in France's second division last year, played for Le Havre. And for Ighalo, he was signed  by Udinese in 2008 but Udinese kept sending him on loan to teams like Granada and Cesena. In 2014, they sent him on loan to Watford. Watford saw something they liked in him and decided to sign him.

Now he's the third top scorer in England and he's even playing for his national team, Nigeria, and scoring of course. Your loss, Udinese.

Morale of this post: never stop dreaming my fellow soccer players.

CCNY Reach Their Goal of Going to the CUNYAC Final With a 2-0 Win Over Brooklyn

City College set the goal of reaching the 2015 CUNYAC final since preseason, "That was the goal we set for ourselves at the season onset," City's captain Abdul Abdulai said.

As of Oct. 3rd they were 3-6 (1-2 CUNYAC)--one of those losses was a 2-1 heartbreak against Brooklyn College-- no one expected them to reach their goal then.

They climbed all the way up to beating Brooklyn 2-0 in the semifinal yesterday afternoon at Brooklyn College Soccer Field. Thus reached their goal: the CUNYAC final.

Clifford Leriche wasn't a starter for City until the game against John Jay just three weeks ago. He scored a stunner for the visitors in the first half. Mostafa Haridi secured the win with a goal of his own in the second half.

 Abdulai was pleased of the win but understood that there's more to do. "We are happy to be in the final but the job isn't done yet."

CCNY hope to get the job done against the No. 1 seed College of Staten Island in the CUNYAC final next Saturday at Brooklyn College Soccer Field.

This game felt like a replay of when the two teams met back on Sept. 23rd, it was a up-and-down battle throughout the whole 90. Leriche opened the scoring in the 25th minute. He volleyed the ball from outside the box to the lower corner of the net after Haridi headed Anthony Scarallo's long throw to him.

The Beavers wouldn't score again until the hour mark. Augustine Amissah released Abdulai down the right flank, who flashed past a Brooklyn defender before crossing the ball to Haridi. Haridi was unmarked in the box as he raised his foot to hit the ball past Brooklyn keeper Ilya Keygen.

CCNY held on to the lead and the clean sheet all the way to the final whistle to go undefeated in five games with three straight clean sheets. They will try to keep this momentum going in next week's final, "We're staying focused and playing to win the trophy," Abdulai said.

Last time City won the title was in 2005, of a 3-2 victory over Staten Island.

Mamadou Kone's Video

Last week, Read The Game promised a prize to anyone who guessed the score of the Manchester derby. Mamadou Kone guessed 0-0 and guess what? The game ended 0-0. So I guess Read The Game have a prize for Kone. Guess what the prize is? Okay, no more guessing.

The prize is to post a soccer video on Read The Game. What a prize! You would've never guessed it. Kone chose Zidane The Scientist on youtube. Before we watch his soccer video, let's get to know this guy's soccer.

Mamadou Kone is an Ivorian midfielder. He played his high school soccer at Beach Channel in Queens. He then went to Medgar Evers and played a season there. He also played club soccer for Rosedale SC, Central Park Rangers Reds and Real New York FC.

Kone doesn't have a favorite team at this moment, "I used to like Madrid but they always break my heart because they never win when it matters the most. So now I just like watching good football between top teams," Kone said.

Okay, we can watch Zidane now: