Lansdowne Remains Undefeated After a 4-2 Victory Over United F.C.

                 vs             

G. Chirgaze 28', 67'                                                          Roche 17', 21',  Foster 31'
                                                                                                              O. Oakley 44'                  

                   Statistics

                                                                                                                                                                  2                    Goals                  4

                  10 (7)              Shots (on target)    16 (9)   

                                   2              Corners                 5
                                                     6                        Fouls                 6
                                                      2                   Offsides                5
                                                     3                      Yellows               0
                                                      1                          Reds               0
                                                              

Stephen Roche's double led the way in Lansdowne's win against United F.C., while Giorgi Chirgaze also had a double of his own but in a losing effort.

Lansdowne Bhoys stay unbeaten in the Cosmopolitan Soccer League as they defeated United F.C. 4-2 Sunday night in the first round of the second half of the season at Aviator Sports Complex.

Stephen Roche scored the first two goals of the game for the visiting side before Giorgi Chirgaze cut the lead in half for United F.C. Lansdowne added two more goals to their account to close the second half through Shaun Foster and Ovan Oakley respectively.

After the interval, Chigarze took advantage of the Irish-based club keeper Abdoukarim Danso's mistake to score his second and last goal of the game.

This loss drops United to sixth place. To make matter worse, Nuno Sousa's side will be without their starting goalkeeper Vadym Sanzharevsky due to injury. The 17-year old is expected to miss six months-- more than the rest of the season-- after dislocating his left leg.

Meanwhile Lansdowne draw level on point with NY Pancyprian but still remain in second place due to goal difference after bagging three points away home. 

"It was a good workout, first game of the season," head coach Austin Friel said. "I'm happy with the tree points." 

Sanzharevsky was carried off the field after dislocating his leg inside the opening six minutes, giving the game a twenty minute delay. Cyclones head coach Sousa believed that Sanzharevsky's injury played a major role in the outcome of the game.

"We lost our goalkeeper in the first 10 minutes of the game," the manager said. "It was very difficult." He later added: "But it's part of the game."

With 30 minutes left in the first half, Daryl Kavanagh was brought down by a United defender, setting up a free kick for Roche. The Irish midfielder hit the free kick past the opposing keeper to the lower right corner of the net.

"When I'm coaching [children] everyday, that's when I get my [free kick] practice in," Roche said after the game. "But to be honest it wasn't the best strike, I think the keeper might've  done a little bit better but it was nice to score the first goal."

The 28-year old completed his brace four minutes later. Roche caught the home keeper off his line and struck from about 25 yards out to double the Bhoys lead.

"I'm very happy," the captain said of his two goals. "I've been hurt quite a while with an injury so I'm happy to get on the score-sheet."

The Cyclones initiated a comeback with a goal in the 28th minute. Igor Bykanov hit a screamer from midfield, that Danso failed to hold on to. Chirgaze burried the rebound in the net for his first of the night.

Just three minutes later, Lansdowne re-doubled their lead as Foster lobbed the ball over the United keeper. The Bhoys added another one one minute before the break, when Oakley played a neat one-two with Craig Purcell before speeding past the home keeper to net an open goal.

The Cyclones came back more determined after the restart but they only managed to touch their guest's net once. Danso's clearance dropped straight at Chirgaze, who didn't think twice before scoring a beauty from midfield in the 67th minute.

After this victory coach Friel was fully convinced that his side can defeat any team in the CSL and go on to lift to trophy.

"We won the league the last two years in a row," the Irishman said. "And we're undefeated, it will take a good team to beat us. So as I said, we don't fear any team in the league, we're looking to win three in the row so we don't fear anyone really.

Goodbye Round of 16

Round of 16 is finally over! The thing lasted like a month, aren't you guys glad it's finally over? I started to get tired of this round 16, round 16 every champions league fixture day. We're already in the year of 2016, so we see the number 16 quite often-- I'm tired of it. 

Well, thinking about it, there's actually one 16 I never get tired of seeing and that's the back of defensive midfielder  Daniele De Rossi's jersey (sorry about the loss to Real Madrid, De Rossi). 

Roma captain Daniele De Rossi. Soccer-infos Image.

But anyways,  goodbye round 16. Hello, quarter-finals. 

Okay, before we say our goodbyes to round of 16, it would be fair if we take a quick look at the best of this first knockout round. I know you like goals, we're going to start with the best goal.

Best Goal

We gotta give it to Luis Suarez kun fu kick against Arsenal. 

Shoalin soccer ain't got nothing on this.

Top Scorer

Yeah-yeah nice goal, Suarez. But it's never about quality in scoring, it's always about quantity. The topscorer of the round of 16 is Suarez's teammate Lionel Messi with three goals. 

 Lionel Messi celebrates after scoring against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.
Reuters Image.

Best Performance

The best performance also goes to the Argentine forward. Messi scored two second half goals, giving his side a crucial victory over the Gunners away from home in the first leg.

Best Game

Enough of individual performances, let's go collective. Let's talk about the best game. You don't even gotta think about it twice, the best game of this round was the second leg between Bayern Munich and Juventus. Bayern midfielder Thomas Mueller's 90th minute goal sent the game to extra-time after Juventus went ahead by two goals in the first half. 

The German side completed their turnaround in extra-time with two more goals in the span of two minutes. What a game, feel like watching the highlights again just writing this.

               Bayern Munich's Thomas Muller (4th L) celebrates after scoring                                                against Juventus.* REUTERS/Giorgio Perottino, yahoosports.

Sorry, champ

I don't like knockout rounds too much, it's always hard to see good teams leave. One team that it really hurts to see leave this round are the Italian champions and last year's finalist Juventus. If you have players you can score goals like this against Bayern Munich...

... it sucks that you have to leave the tournament so early.

Most memorable moment

Last but not least, the most memorable moment was when Atletico Madrid celebrated Juanfran's game winning penalty kick against PSV Eindhoven at home. The two sides played three hours and 30 minutes of goalless football-- can you believe that? Three hours and thirty minutes! Lord!-- before the penalty shootout.

Take a look at a picture of the Atletico players sprinting towards Juanfran to celebrate. What happened to those extra-time cramps?

Atletico Madrid players celebrate penalty kick victory over PSV Eindhoven.
Getty Images

After looking at the best of round 16, I guess it wasn't that bad, right? It was actually pretty good. But we don't regret it, there's better things ahead. The quarter finals!

Top 3 last words before midweek fixtures

People's last words are to be cherished: saved on our flash drives, written on our shirts... So should footballers' last words before a game.

Well, football player's last words before a game are probably something like, "Nice watch, ref... Um by the way, I'm planning to take my shirt off when I score today, can we work something out?" Or, "Aye, you want to switch man on set pieces? I got Benteke... Please mate, I'll lead the offside trap."

But these words are not recorded-- too bad-- the closest thing we got from their last words are the pre-match press conference. Let's take a look at this midweek's actions best pre-match quote:

Inter Milan host last year cup champions Juventus in the second leg of the semi-final of the Coppa Italia on Wednesday. The two sides met just three days before this fixture, Inter lost 2-0 and they also lost the first leg of the semi-final 3-0 to Juventus.

Juventus left back Alex Sandro told his club official website that the team should be pushing to win every single competition they're in now. Thus Inter's quest of beating Juventus the first time this season won't be easy.

Juventus defender Alex Sandro. Valerio Penniciono/ Getty Images

3. "Juve are a huge club with a great history and subsequently we should be pushing to win every bit of silverware possible." -- Alex Sando, Inter Milan vs Juventus.

Another exciting game this week is Liverpool vs Manchester City in the Premier League on Tuesday. Liverpool lost the Capital One Cup final to City two days prior this encounter (similar to Inter vs Juventus). Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said that his players would be idiots if they let this defeat take over them.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp at a press conference. Getty Images

2. "Only silly idiots stay on the floor and wait for the next defeat. Of course we will strike back-- 100 percent." -- Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool vs Manchester City.

Last but top quote, Zinedine Zidane said he's not going crazy after his side, Real Madrid, lost to Atletico Madrid, making in it close to impossible to win La Liga. Real Madrid's next game is against Levante on Wednesday.

1. "I'm not going crazy. When we win I don't let it go to my head and when we lose I don't go crazy. I'm going to prepare for the [Levante] game. I will put out the best XI and that is that." -- Zinedine Zidane, Levante vs Real Madrid

You can't watch a game without knowing the players or coaches' last words, right?

Sources: goal, bleacher report, mirror.

Dynamo Kiev vs Manchester City Postgame

Manchester City players celebrate after David Silva's goal. Ytimg Images

Oh my goal, I only have 30 minutes to write this, my next class starts at five. I don’t even get a full half. No warm up, let’s get going.

Manchester City defeated Dynamo Kiev 3-1 in the first leg of the round 16 of the UEFA Champions League Wednesday at NSC Olimpiyskiy.  

Sergio Aguero opened the scoring for City in the 15^th minute. The Argentine forward struck the ball in the corner of the net after Yaya Toure headed down David Silva’s corner kick.

Manuel Pellegrini’s side doubled their lead 10 minutes after the half hour mark as Aguero released Raheem Sterling with a marvelous backheel, the English midfielder then hit a pinpoint low-cross to Silva. Silva scored but he shot the ball so high in the net (from inside the six-yard box!) that the whole stadium thought he was going to miss. Pellegrini is going to have a few words with him for that.

Vitaly Buialskyi cut the lead for the Ukranian side in the 59^th minute with a sweet volley. But the goal of the match wasn’t yet to come. Toure curled a beauty in the top corner of the net after a neat one-two play with Fernandinho.

A wise man once said there’s a reason for everything. Let’s take a look at the reasons why City defeated the second best team in Ukraine—we need to do that, especially after they lost to Chelsea   5-1. I’m joking, City fans.

Dynamo struggled to get into City's half

Dynamo couldn’t get out of their own half for most of the first 45 minutes, they constantly passed the ball back. Their keeper Oleksandr Shovkovskyi nearly conceded a goal after they pass the ball back to him in the first ten minutes. Bad start, their confidence went down—even though, they were playing home. Serhiy Rebrov’s side had a much better start in the second half.

Manchester City's rocky midfielders

The two defensive midfielders, Fernandinho and Fernando Reges, alongside Yaya Toure were rock solid in the midfield. Any time Dynamo managed to get in City’s territory, they weren’t afraid to throw their boots at them (not literally). The three midfielders were physical, they had a couple of fouls in the first ten minutes (again with how the game started). They didn’t fly all the way to Ukraine to play around.

City's spotless defending down the wing

Kiev played with three men up top. City’s defense down the flank was excellent for most of the game, as far as intercepting crosses or stopping the opposing wingers. How many times did Vincent Kompany bolt down the wing to put up a tackle?

Oh, I need like five minutes of added time, wait for me English class. Even though, they lost, Dynamo saw most of the ball with 52% of possession, when City had 48%. And up to the hour mark, they had 27 more passes than the English side.

Five minutes of added time is already done? Let me leave on this note, great performance from Toure.

Round 6: Prediction League

This writing was taken from the Prediction League me and Louis van Gaal (not the real Van Gaal, a footyroom user) manage on Footyroom, feel free to predict here, I'll add you in the standings.

Football must be the most unpredictable game out there (don't even get me started on the Premier League). You might want to think about joining the Prediction League twice, even Footyroom is having trouble predicting this week's games. The top four teams of the Serie A and the Premier League will face each other this weekend. Let's start with the big one, the most anticipated game in the Serie A so far this season:

1. Juventus vs Napoli

                   Napoli striker Gonzalo Higuain contests Paul Pogba for the ball. 
                   Getty Images

First placed Napoli will look to go further in their quest of winning the Serie A as they travel to Juventus stadium to take on last year's champions on Saturday. With the aid of top scorer Gonzalo Higuain (24 goals), Napoli hold the highest scoring team in the Serie A belt. They couldn't ask for a better challenger than Massimiliano Allegri's side: the best defense in the league.

2. Arsenal vs Leicester

Arsenal host league topper Leicester City Saturday. The Foxes are fresh off a victory against Manchester City, bringing their dream of winning the Premier League closer to reality. Meanwhile, an inconsistent Arsenal team has gone quiet in the title talk due to bad results in their last six games, defeating the best team in the EPL might just get them back on track.

3. Barcelona vs Celta Vigo

Playing soccer pregnant isn't illegal

                  Nolito celebrates after scoring the opener against Barcelona as Andres

                  Iniesta watches on Sep. 23rd. Getty Images

Spanish side Celta Vigo is under the lowest point of their season as the team only won one of their last six games. Hope is not around the corner when their next game is Barcelona at Camp Nou-- the Catalans are on a 10 game winning streak.

Coach Eduardo Berizzo might want to show this stat to his players before the game to boost their confidence, Celta defeated Barcelona two times in their last three meetings, including the last time the two sides met back in September.

4. Manchester City vs Tottenham Hotspur

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini saw his side slip to fourth place after falling to Leicester on Saturday. With a victory over Tottenham, City can climb right back up to second (if Arsenal draw or lose). But it sure won't be easy for Sergio Aguero and compatriots, the Spurs only loss in the month of January and the beginning of February was against Leicester, 1-0.

5. Real Madrid vs Athletic Bilbao

Gool FM Photo

Real Madrid still haven't lost under head coach Zinedine Zidane. Athletic Bilbao aren't the best candidate to get the job done, having won two of their last six. Relegation side Granada wasn't a good candidate either but they almost got the job done as Madrid claimed the winner all the way in the 85th minute, with a goal from Luka Modric last Sunday.

6. Fiorentina vs Inter Milan

AFP Photo

You already predicted 1st vs 2nd place in the Serie A, now, 3rd vs 4th. Inter Milan looked as if they were going back to their glory days as they topped the league back in September-November, but things slowly dragged away, they're in fourth place now.

Fiorentina also had a taste of first place back in September after knocking Inter down to second place with a 4-1 victory. First place isn't the price like the last time the two teams met but the desire to win won't be any less.

Go ahead, flip a coin, ask your girlfriend, play the games on FIFA, do whatever you can to get those right scores.

Overall Standings

1.Louis Van Gaal--------------------34
2.SternDesSuedens-----------------32
3.KTBFFHSWE-----------------------30
4.Marcus2011--------------------------29
5.Jimbet---------------------------------27
6.Chelsea8------------------------------25
7.Onze------------------------------------24
7.Emobot7-------------------------------24
7.NovaRuk-------------------------------24
10.Raimondo90-------------------------20
11.DarthFooty--------------------------18
12.Liomessi10---------------------------17
13.Aiden Finland----------------------16
14.Eden17Hazard17-------------------15
15.DecentK--------------------------------13
16.Minoas57-------------------------------12
17.Chucksea------------------------------11
18.JozeMourinho--------------------------9
19.Shpalman-------------------------------8
19.Tiki taka----------------------------------8
19.SunFlash--------------------------------8
22.Srk rox------------------------------------6
23.NandaYNWA---------------------------4
23.quikzyyy---------------------------------4
25.Tuan_jinn-------------------------------1

February Standings (courtesy of Louis van Gaal)

1.louis_van_gaal--------------20
1.Jimbet----------------------20
3.DarthFooty--------------------18
3.SternDesSuedens-----------18
3.KTBFFHSWE----------------18
6.liomessi10-------------------17
7.NovaRuk--------------------- 16
8.Eden17Hazard17------------15
9.Emobot7----------------------13
10.chelsea8----------------------12
10.Aiden_Finland-----------------12
12.marcus2011-------------------11
13.onze11------------------------10
14.decentk------------------------7
15.SunFlash------------------------5
16.quikzyyy----------------------4
16.tiki_taka-----------------------4

European leagues weekend recap-countdown

Leicester City players enjoy a 3-1 victory over title challenger Manchester
City. Getty

Numbers. They used them for everything in football, to keep score, to identify players, to measure the nets, to buy boots that fit the players... And to recap last weekend's top European leagues:

10. 10 for: Barcelona went on a ten game winning streak with a 2-0 win over Levante on Sunday as Lionel Messi racked his tenth assist of the season. Oh, and Messi wears number...

9. Nine for: Luka Modric's ninth goal for Real Madrid gave Zinedine Zidane's side a narrow 2-1 win against Ganada on Sunday. The Croatian was born on the ninth day of the ninth month in 1985. 

8. Eight for: Manchester United got their eighth draw of the season against Chelsea on Sunday at Stamford Bridge as they tied 1-1. It happened mainly because of the eighth year goalkeeper David de Gea's breathtaking performance. Watch De Gea in action: 

If only my doctor was this good with his gloves.

7. Seven for: Liverpool fans walked out of Anfield in the 77th minute during the Sunderland game because the club announced that they will raise the redeveloped Main Stand ticket price to 77 pounds. The Reds were up 2-0. But not long after the mass walkout, they conceded two goals in seven minutes. The game ended 2-2.

6. Six for: 6' 3 Robert Huth had a brace in Leicester's 3-1 victory over Manchester City as the Foxes move six points clear on top of the league on Feb. 6. Yup, a hat-trick of six. 

5. Five for: Pep Guardiola's side Bayern Munich failed to win for the fifth match this season (not including friendlies), tying to fifth placed Bayer Leverkusen 0-0 at BayArena. This happened five  days after the press confirmed that the Spaniard coach will manage Manchester City five months from now. 

4. Four for: Congratulations to Fernando Torres for breaking his four months 100th goal delay for Atletico Madrid Saturday. The 30-year old tallied his 100th goal for the club against Eibar.

                 

                                                 Fernando Torres celebrates his 100th goal for Atletico Madrid.
                                                Photo: Reuters/Javier Barbancho

El Nino is 100.

Top three goals

3. Riyad Mahrez cuts inside the box before literary lifting the net with a strike.

                                           

2. Jesse Lingard side-nets the ball after an unreal turn. 

                   

Jesse "180" Lingard.

1. Olympique Lyonnais' Rachid Ghezzal shakes the defender to curl the ball into the side-netting. 

Magnifique. 

Juve extend winning streak to 14 games, next up league topper Napoli

  Juan Cuadrado celebrates after scoring the opener for Juventus against Frosinone. 

Photo:Goal

Juventus extended their record Serie A winning streak to 14 games as they defeated Frosinone 2-0 Sunday at Stadio Matusa. The Italian champions will put their record winning streak on the line against first placed Napoli Saturday.

Midfielder Juan Cuadrado opened the scoring for the Old Lady, converting Alex Sandro's low cross past Nicola Leali in the 73rd minute. One minute into added time, Paulo Dybala curled one in the net, insuring the three points for the visitors.

Napoli's Gonzalo Higuain roars after converting the decisive penalty kick 

versus Carpi. Photo: Channel NewsAsia Photo

Elsewhere, Napoli blanked Carpi with a 69th minute penalty from Gonzalo Higuain, who has scored 24 goals in his 24 Serie A appearances, to remain atop of the league.

These two results are the last building block of the most anticipated game in the Serie A this season. For Juve will look to push their record to 15 games, while unexpected first placed Napoli will try to move a step closer to their goal of lifting the Scudetto-- not having won the league since 1990.

Furthermore, Serie A top-scorer Higuain will compete against the best defense in the league in seek of keeping his 1 goal per game ratio.

Although we have much to praise the top two teams of the Serie A for, five months ago the two sides were criticized for poor performance. Maurizio Sarri's side started the Serie A campaign with a 2-1 loss to Sassuolo before tying to Sampdoria and Empoli 2-2. On the other hand, Juventus one only one of their first six Serie A games.

The fact that both teams overcame a rough start make their clash against each other even more desirable. Can Massimiliano Allegri's side transform one of their worst start of the Serie A ever all the way to first place?

Last time the two clubs met, Napoli defeated Juventus 2-1 but that was on their ground Stadio San Paolo and against an out of form Juve. Saturday, they will travel to Juventus Stadium to take on a side who haven't lost there since August 23rd.

First place will be fight for in a head-to-head battle this Saturday in Italy.