Archive for 'England' Category
Chelsea through to Champions league semi-final
9 April 2008Ballack and Lampard shot Chelsea FC into the semi-finals of the 2007/2008 champions league over turning the first leg 2-1 deficit. It is Liverpool again and I feel it is going to be third time lucky.
Chelsea for Wembley
15 April 2007Chelsea booked their place in the final of FA Cup in the New Wembley Stadium by beating Blackburn Rovers 2-1 at old Trafford in a gruelling semi-final encounter which went into extra time. Frank Lampard put The Blues in front after a lovely passing game which split Blackburns defense wide open and went into half time with that one goal advantage.
Mark Hughes men came out firing on all cylinders in the second half and fought their way back into the game when Jason Roberts helped in Gamst Perdeson’s low freekick from midway in Chelsea’s half. Michael Ballack earned his wages by taking the Premiership Champions through to the finals with a low drive in the box which Bart Friedel had no answer to.
This was one gruelling encounter and one can only but admire the grit and determination which Chelsea show time and time again in matches to come out trumps.
Chelsea overcome Valencia threat
10 April 2007Chelsea booked a place in the semi-finals of the Champions League by defeating Valencia on their home turf. The Blues showed their class and pedigree by playing with plenty of character and dominating the game in front of a voiciferous and hostile crowd.
Jose Mourinho’s men went behind in the first half from a goal by Spanish veteran Morientes who tucked in a cross from close range. They drew even in the second half with the help of its own veteran in its ranks Shevchenko who also scored from close range.
Michael Essien made the game safe for the English team at the stroke of full time with a low drive to beat the Spanish goalkeeper Canizares who had been magnificent until then and had kept all of Chelsea’s efforts out until then.
3 points and counting down
7 April 2007Chelsea defeated its North London rivals Tottenham Hotspurs at The Bridge to close the gap on league leaders Manchester United who play in a late kickoff. The gap between The Blues and The Reds is now three points and we hope it stays that way at the end of the days proceedings. A speculative long range effort from Ricardo Carvalho gave the Premiership champions a well deserved 1-0 advantage.
Didier to the rescue
5 April 2007Didier Drogba reached the milestone of 30 goals in a single season when he helped Chelsea secure a draw against Valencia in the Champions League first leg quarter final tie played at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues came from behind to get an equalizer which leaves them surprisingly second best to advance into the semi-finals of the competition. Write off Chelsea at your peril though Valencia. We will go to Spain next week and beat the Spaniards in their own backyard.
FA Cup semi-final ticket
19 March 2007The Blues picked up a deserved place in th FA Cup semi-finals by triumphing over Totenham Hotspurs at White Hart Lane. Andriy Shevchenko showed his striking pedigree by scoring a sensational left footed goal and a goal from Shaun Wright-Phillips helped seal a victory.
Spurs fought back with a goal from Robbie Keane from the penalty spot after Ricardo Carvalho brought down Dimitar Berbetov from behind in the penalty area but the premiership champions showed great character to see off a determined Spurs side.
The FA Cup is the only domestic cup which has eluded Jose Mourinho since he too over at Chelsea but he hopes to correct that. A semi-final match against Blackburn Rovers is all that stands between The Blues and a place in the final at the all new Wembley Stadium
Six point gap
14 March 2007Chelsea closed the gap between it and the League leaders to six after a win at The City of Manchester Stadium. Stuart Pearce’s team has been under immense pressure in recent weeks for its loss of form which has seen Man City getting cut up in a relegation infested zone.
The Blues however continued their unrelentless march towards a third consecutive Premiership title by seeing of a hard fighting Man City.
John Terry returned from injury to captain the team and although he had his own fair share of knocks and bruises from a gruelling encounter, he saw his team through to get all three points
The Reds and Blues of Manchester Unite!
14 March 2007Chelsea take on Man City hoping to reduce Man Utd’s lead at the top of the Premiership.
The Reds and Blues of Manchester are not the best of friends but I would be no witch doctor to say that Man Utd fans will be routing for City as they know that just one blip could see them tumbling.
Under fire City Manager needs a win to assure City’s fans that he is still the man to take them to great things; though am sure he knows that this is not feasible. But just like they say, “Football is not Mathematics” and anything is possible.
Chelsea hope to put our defensive nightmares behind as we seek to pile pressure on Man Utd.
Chelsea Still On Track
7 March 2007It was a nervy start for Jose Mourhino’s men in the first half of the encounter with Porto FC. The visitors drew the first blood in the 15th minute when they beat Chelsea’s offside trap.
Chelsea was nervy in possession especially in the last third. You would be forgiven for wondering where the goal was going to come from. Chelsea continued to miss their inspirational captain. The visitors were more than content with their lead and were willing to just knock the ball around rather than go for the jugler, thank God for little mercies!
After the break, it looked like a different Chelsea with Robben equalising from a kick that should have ended as a corner at best. That goes to tell you that in football anything is possible as Porto’s Keeper helped the ball into his own net.
The Match appeared to be heading into extra time with only one likely winner, Chelsea! The Blues were getting stronger with every kick especially after the introduction of Mikel Obi.
Dangerous balls kept being knocked into Porto’s area with most of the chances going begging. Not so when Shevchenko knocked one into Ballack with his head. The former Bayern man made no mistake hooking the ball beyond the Keeper.
This made for a nervy end as extra time was definitely out and a goal for Porto would mean that Chelsea would need to score again. We need not have been scared as the Blues Millionaires were more than capable of seeing out the Match.
Jose said that at half time he challenged the Blues to enjoy the Match as they were at that moment out of the Competition. I really like that as being scared tightens you up and Chelsea would certainly have crumbled! But not when you start to enjoy something, you find you start doing things well and My God, how it worked.
The Bridge was a sight to behold, the Supporters were fantastic. Roman, everybody played a part in the big, big victory that put us in the quarter finals.
All hail “The Blues”. We are still on track!
Liverpool also lost 1-0 at the KOP but progressed thanks to a superior away goal aggregate against Barcelona with former Chelsea player Eidur Gudjonsson scoring the only goal of the night.
Chelsea 2 Porto 1
6 March 2007Chelsea came from one goal behind to beat FC Porto 2-1 and advance to the last eight of the Champions League. Well played Chelsea. We were booed off the field after the first half when we were still one goal down but The Mighty Blues showed the stuff they were made of by coming back to win.