02 March 2009
by Jerrad Peters
"Tech-y" Foster wins Carling Cup for United
Manchester United defeated Tottenham Hotspur on penalties, Sunday, to win their second major piece of silverware this season. Having already won the FIFA Club World Cup in December, United lifted the Carling Cup at Wembley after goalkeeper Ben Foster made a trio of impressive saves against Jamie O'Hara, Aaron Lennon and Darren Bent. Currently seven points clear of second-place Chelsea with a game in hand, United are a lock to win a third consecutive Premier League crown and are favorites to triumph in the FA Cup as well. They will battle Italian champions Inter Milan in the second leg of their Champions' League Round of 16 tie next Wednesday at Old Trafford.
Foster has already become something of a cult hero among United fans in the hours since his shootout heroics. The 26-year-old watched footage of several Spurs penalty takers on his iPod before diving to his left to save O'Hara's effort. The FA has ruled that Foster did not break any laws of conduct by watching the video clips, and Foster himself has readily admitted that he used to device to determine the shooting patterns of the Spurs shooters.
"Just before the shootout I was looking at an iPod with goalkeeping coach Eric Steele and it contained images of Tottenham's players taking penalties," he stated after the match. "They told me for Jamie O'Hara that I should stand up and be strong and he would probably go the way he did. I had done a lot of research before, but this is an innovation we have brought in at the club."
Needless to say, goalkeeping coaches will have similar footage on hand ahead of penalty shootouts from hereon in. But it's no surprise that United were the first to use the technology. The Red Devils have been at the forefront of using and developing new techniques and expertise throughout manager Sir Alex Ferguson's reign at the club. Ferguson recognizes that each advantage must be used in order to give his squad the edge it requires to win matches.
In Sunday's final, it was probably just enough. The two sides played two hours of tedious, unimaginative football until referee Chris Foy whistled to end the second period of extra time and put the 88,000 fans in attendance out of their boredom.
Ryan Giggs was first up for United—his low effort off the post giving the 2006 league cup winners the early advantage. From there it was all Foster—first diving left to save O'Hara. Carlos Tevez calmly slotted past Heurelio Gomes moments later to put United 2-0 up. Vedran Corluka was next for Spurs. Although Foster guessed correctly, the Croatian went high on the 'keeper and notched Tottenham's only penalty. David Bentley missed the target on his next attempt, by which time Ronaldo had scored United's third. The trophy was already in the bag for the Red Devils when Anderson drove home the winner with a low drive.
Barca stumble again; Madrid narrows gap
Real Madrid cut Barcelona's lead in La Liga to four points by beating Espanyol 2-0 on Saturday. Guti scored the eventual match-winner after 67 tense minutes at Estadio Olimpico. Raul doubled the scoreline just moments later, however, when he beat Carlos Kameni for his 20th goal this season in all competitions. Madrid have now won ten consecutive games in La Liga since losing to Barcelona in early December and have outscored their opponents a combined 24-2 in that span.
Meanwhile, Barcelona were part of a seven-goal thriller at the Vicente Calderon on Sunday evening. Thierry Henry and Lionel Messi opened up a 2-0 lead for the Catalans before Diego Forlan's thunderbolt from 30 yards gave Atletico Madrid a lifeline before the interval. Sergio Aguero leveled matters with his 16th goal of the season ten minutes after the re-start before Henry put Barcelona 3-2 ahead with his 18th of the campaign in the 73rd minute. Diego Forlan notched Atletico's third goal of the affair from the penalty spot after Florent Sinama Pongolle was fouled in the box, and Aguero secured all three points for the osts when he pounced on Carlos Puyol's poor clearance to beat Victor Valdez with a low shot.
Barcelona appear to be coming undone after several months at the top of the European football mountain. They have not won a match since beating Sporting Gijon 3-1 at the Nou Camp on February 8 and are winless in their last four outings.
What was once a 12-point lead atop the standings has become a four-point gap between the Blaugrana and reigning champions Real Madrid. The Meringues have gone from strength to strength in recent weeks, relying on the goalscoring abilities of Arjen Robben, Gonzalo Higuain, Raul and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar in rotation while keeping an impressive record of clean sheets.
Having been written out of the title race in November by many pundits, Madrid have rallied around new manager Juande Ramos and are now among the hottest clubs on the continent. The December exit of controversial club president Ramon Calderon seems to have released the squad of its anxiety, and the plethora of transfer rumors that typically surround the team has gone out the door with him.
Barcelona, on the other hand, have struggled in the absence of first-choice left-back Eric Abidal. Atletico winger Maxi Rodriguez ran Abidal's stand-in, Sylvinho, into the ground on Sunday, and playmaker Xavi looked lost without the services of his right-hand man Andres Iniesta.
The Blaugrana were always going to be a better outfit than the shambles of last season. But to expect them to carry on their form of November and December throughout the winter months was unrealistic from the start. Sure, Pep Guardiola has greatly improved the squad's performance, but he's done it with a squad almost identical to last year's. Barcelona should still be favored to win the league and challenge in the Champions' League, but they've come back down to earth and will be closely challenged the rest of the way.
Same old Ronaldo
The past weekend was a microcosm of Ronaldo's career-long relationships with clubs and fans. It also showed that little has changed for the 32-year-old Brazilian since he embarked on his comeback with Corinthians.
The star of the 2002 World Cup was fined by manager Mano Menezes on Friday after arriving late at the team's hotel ahead of the weekend's Paulista encounter with Marilia. His behavior mattered little to fans, however. Hundreds of Corinthians supporters surrounded Ronaldo at the end of the match, and he required a security escort to leave the grounds.
Corinthians, currently second in the Paulista with 25 points from 11 matches, will be making a return to the top-flight of Brazilian football this season and are hoping to make Ronaldo the centerpiece of their campaign. Ronaldo, for his part, has not played a competitive match since sustaining a serious knee injury on February 13, 2008 while with AC Milan.
jerradpeters@gmail.com
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