Chelsea stun Bayern Munich on their home ground, win the Champions League final 4-3 on Penalties

By Money Mike


If you're a Tottenham fan, this is the worst thing you want to see because now instead of qualifying for the 2012-13 UEFA Champions League, your team will instead will compete in the Europa League and this is why. Bayern Munich had the home field advantage and the momentum at their side for the final and looked to be the team that would come out on top. That was not the case. 62,500 fans at the Allianz Arena and over 150,000,000 viewers worldwide got to witness first hand Chelsea defeating Bayern Munich 4-3 in a penalty shootout and all those chances Bayern Munich had in this match, they're going to rue not being able to capitalize.

In the 18th minute well, all I can say is how the hell did this guy fan on a golden opportunity. A long throw in to the end line found Thomas Muller who was able to poke the ball to Mario Gomez. This one looked like it was going to be a goal for Bayern Munich, but Gomez scuffed it and the attack broke down.

In the 34th minute, off the free kick Juan Mata looked to curl his effort towards goal but he got under it a little too much and the ball sailed over the bar. That was one of few shot attempts by Chelsea in this match.

Three minutes later, Bayern Munich were on the move again. Diego Contento made an overlapping run and sent in a good looking cross into the middle of the area for a left footed volley by Thomas Muller, but it just whistled wide. In the 43rd minute, Bayern Munich waste another golden opportunity. Mario Gomez turned Gary Cahill inside the box and had just the keeper to beat, but he skied his shot well over the bar. Bayern Munich had 16 shots on goal in the first half, but only two were on target. What a waste.

In the 54th minute, Bayern Munich thought they broke the deadlock. Thomas Muller fed Arjen Robben from 19 yards out for a first time shot. The ball bounced off Ashley Cole right to Franck Ribery for the tap in, but Ribery was in an offside position on the shot so the goal did not count.

The second half looked pretty even in terms of possession. Chelsea came out in the second half and looked a lot better than they did in the first half. Bayern Munich still looked like the better team, but they just didn't play like the better team because all they did was fail to capitalize on their chances. Chance after chance after chance, and for some reason they had problems finishing. Especially Mario Gomez. I think Gomez had a crappy game after failing to capitalize on three or four opportunities that he more than likely would've put away in his sleep. Chelsea did put together some opportunities of their own. Like in the 50th minute when Didier Drogba turned and snapped a shot on goal, but it was always going wide. Arjen Robben also wasted a few opportunities of his own for Bayern. Both Robben and Gomez who were supposed to be the stars of this team had an awful night and this could hurt them in their chances of representing their respective countries in EURO 2012 next month.

With under eight minutes to play, Bayern Munich finally broke the deadlock. Franck Ribery poked the ball back to Toni Kroos just outside the penalty area. Kroos then curls the ball to the far post and finds Thomas Muller for a downward header which bounces on the ground and in off the top of the crossbar to give Bayern Munich a 1-0 lead in the final. First of all that was poor defending from Chelsea. Second of all, how did Petr Cech let that go in. It looked like an easy save, but he didn't jump to try to make the save and the ball snuck in.

Shortly after that goal, Bayern Munich brought on Daniel Van Buyten to try to hold on to the lead. However in this 88th minute, that defensive switch wasn't good enough and Chelsea came through with a late equalizing goal. Juan Mata took the corner from the far hash mark and sent in a driven cross to the near post for Didier Drogba who got well and snapped his header in off the hand of Manuel Neuer for one of the biggest goals of his career at Chelsea. In the last minute of stoppage time, Drogba had an opportunity to come through with a winning goal off the free kick but he got under it a bit too much and the ball sailed over the top and the match went to extra time.

In the third minute of extra time, Drogba gets whistled for clipping Franck Ribery in the box and the referee awards a penalty to Bayern Munich and also books Didier Drogba. Gary Cahill was arguing with the referee after that, thinking it wasn't a penalty. Come on now. Drogba caught his right foot from behind in the penalty area, of course it's a PK. Arjen Robben stepped up to take the penalty. I said he had a awful night, this was one of the reasons. He tried to go for placement and Cech guessed the right way and made the save. At this stage of the game, I would've went for power. I actually would've went for power at any stage of the game. There were no goals in extra time so the game went to a penalty shootout.

In the shootout, Philipp Lahm stepped up first for Bayern Munich and slotted the ball to Petr Cech's left despite Cech getting a hand to it. Juan Mata stepped up first for Chelsea and tried to go to the goalkeepers left hand side, but Neuer read it perfectly and made the save and Bayern led 1-0 after round one. Mario Gomez went second for Bayern and he slid the ball inside the goalkeepers left hand side. David Luiz went next for Chelsea and on a long run up, Luiz made no mistake and he smashed the it home. Bayern Munich still led 2-1 after two rounds. After Manuel Neuer and Frank Lampard converted their penalties in the third round, it was Ivica Olic's turn and he failed to convert as he went to the goalkeepers left and Cech made the save. Ashley Cole stepped up for Chelsea and converted his penalty and it was 3-3 after four rounds. In the fifth round, Bastian Schwiensteiger stepped up for Bayern Munich but his penalty was poor as his effort was tipped on to the post by Petr Cech. So it's come all the way down to Didier Drogba to win the Champions League for Chelsea and he slotted the ball inside the goalkeepers right hand side and Chelsea believe it or not win their first European Cup title.


Observations:

After all the chances Bayern Munich have had, they fail to capitalize and this is what happens. You have to capitalize on your opponents mistakes and Bayern were unable to do that and in the end, they lose. Disappointing night for Bayern Munich and their fans after another rough Bundesliga campaign, they just couldn't get the job done and when you don't get the job done, it'll come back to haunt you. This is one of the reasons why there's no such thing as fluke wins.

Now take a look at this. Please tell me if you have ever seen a stadium that changes colors besides the Allianz Arena? In Seattle, you go to Safeco Field, CenturyLink Field, KeyArena, etc. and the outside is just all bricks, steel and other shit. Not the Allianz Arena, they change the color for any club that plays for home match inside that ground. If it's Bayern Munich, the outside of the stadium is red. If it's TSV 1860 Munich, the outside is blue. If it's the German national team, the outside is white. But, as you see here, they used neither of that. What they used was the color of the game ball. It's pretty cool that the stadium can change colors, you can only see it at night though.

The atmosphere was electric inside the stadium. Overall I think it was a great match and that it was better to have the final played on a Saturday than at midweek like they used to do until 2010, but again a great match despite a poor finishing display form Bayern Munich and I'm pretty sure for the fans, this loss will take a while to sink in. Congratulations to Chelsea for finding a way to come out on top in the Champions League despite a poor Premier League campaign, but they'll have an opportunity to defend their Champions League Crown next season.


Scoring summary:

Bayern Munich - Thomas Muller (Toni Kroos) 83'

Chelsea - Didier Drogba (Juan Mata) 88'


Penalty summary:

Bayern Munich - Philipp Lahm (Goal; 1-0)

Chelsea - Juan Mata (Miss; 1-0)

Bayern Munich - Mario Gomez (Goal; 2-0)

Chelsea - David Luiz (Goal; 2-1)

Bayern Munich - Manuel Neuer (Goal; 3-1)

Chelsea - Frank Lampard (Goal; 3-2)

Bayern Munich - Ivica Olic (Miss; 3-2)

Chelsea - Ashley Cole (Goal; 3-3)

Bayern Munich - Bastian Schweinsteiger (Miss; 3-3)

Chelsea - Didier Drogba (Goal; 3-4)

* Chelsea win the Champions League Final 4-3 on penalties.


Misconduct summary:

Bayern Munich - Bastian Schweinsteiger (caution; handball) 2'

Chelsea - Ashley Cole (caution; foul) 81'

Chelsea - David Luiz (caution; foul) 86'

Chelsea - Didier Drogba (caution; foul) 93'

Chelsea - Fernando Torres (caution; foul) 120'


Lineups:

Chelsea - Petr Cech; Jose Bosingwa, Gary Cahill, David Luiz, Ashley Cole; John Obi Mikel, Frank Lampard; Saloman Kalou (Fernando Torres 84'), Juan Mata, Ryan Bertrand (Florent Malouda 73'); Didier Drogba

Bayern Munich - Manuel Neuer; Philipp Lahm, Jerome Boateng, Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, Diego Contento; Bastian Schweinsteiger, Toni Kroos; Arjen Robben, Thomas Muller (Daniel Van Buyten 87'), Franck Ribery (Ivica Olic 97'); Mario Gomez

Sounders head up north to face their rival Vancouver Whitecaps

By Money Mike


The Seattle Sounders make their first trip to BC Place as they take on the Vancouver Whitecaps in the Cascadia Derby. Last year, the Sounders defeated the Whitecaps on the road 3-1 in Vancouver's final match at Empire Field thanks to two second half goals from Fredy Montero. The Whitecaps are off to a good start so far with a 5-3-2 record (17 points), however they've been short of goals. With stars like Eric Hassli and Camilo Sanvezzo in place, the Whitecaps added a familiar face to the Sounder nation, his name is Sebastien Le Toux. They've also looked better Defensively with the addition of Martin Bonjour and Lee Young-Pyo and in the Midfield with a couple new faces like Matt Watson and Jun Marques Davidson. It's just a question of how the French connection will shape up with Vancouver and whether or not they're ready to compete with the big clubs, which they're not.

The Sounders are coming off a 1-0 loss last Saturday at home to Real Salt Lake after a poor second half display. Good news though, Alvaro Fernandez is back in the starting 11 after making his return last Saturday as a sub for David Estrada who's really struggling. This will be the first time that Fredy Montero, Mauro Rosales, Eddie Johnson and Alvaro Fernandez are all in the starting lineup together. A good opportunity for the Sounders to inch closer to the top spot in the Western Conference after that tough loss last Saturday.


Injury report:

Seattle Sounders FC - For the Sounders, Michael Gspurning did not make the trip so that means he's out. Patrick Ianni, Brad Evans and Leo Gonzalez have also been ruled out. The rest of the guys out for the Sounders are Josh Ford, Michael Tetteh, Steve Zakuani and Babayele Sodade. Alvaro Fernandez was listed as probable, but he's on the squad and ready to go.

Vancouver Whitecaps - For Vancouver, Bryan Sylvestre is out after having right knee surgery. I think that was last year he had it and he's still recovering. Atiba Harris is listed as questionable with a right quad contusion. He has made four appearances this season after making appearances in the first five matches of last year, but he's missed the last two.


A lot of Soccer to be played on Saturday. We got the NPower Championship, which the second division of English football. West Ham United and Blackpool will square off in that match kicks off at 7am on FOX Soccer. The winner of that match will book their place in the Premier League next season along with Reading and Southampton. Just to recap the teams that are relegated from the Premier League, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Bolton Wanderers and Blackburn Rovers. So there's that match. Then at 11:30am, it's the UEFA Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Chelsea and much to the delight of the Munich supporters, the final will be at Bayern's home ground Allianz Arena which was chosen to host this years final. So even if Bayern didn't make it to the final, the match would still be at Allianz Arena. Then shortly afterwards, the Sounders and the Whitecaps kickoff at 2pm. So I'm going to have a pretty busy day recapping these matches.

Barcelona claim their 4th Champions League title.

By Money Mike

In front of over 86,000 fans at Wembley Stadium and over 300,000,000 viewers around the world watching the match live on TV, Barcelona came out on top with goals by Pedro Rodriguez, Lionel Messi and David Villa as they defeat Manchester United 3-1. You look at the final stats and you'll be like, "what the f***!!". Shot attempts; Barcelona - 22, Manchester United - 4. Fouls; Manchester United - 16, Barcelona - 5. Time of Possession; Barcelona - 70%, Manchester United - 30%. You look at the stats and you can definitely say that Manchester United deserved to lose this one.

In the early stages of the match, despite Barcelona having more possession of the ball, Manchester United we're putting a lot of pressure on goalkeeper Victor Valdes and they nearly broke through when Gerard Pique's backpass was nearly taken away by Chicharito Hernandez, but Valdes scrambled to clear the ball out of danger.

In the 15th minute, United got caught and were lucky to get away with it. Xavi with a chip into the danger area which found Pedro, who nipped in at the near post, but his touch just went wide of goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar who was playing in his final game of his career. About five minutes later, David Villa tested van der Sar with a right footed effort from the edge of the area, but van der Sar kept it in front of him, it wasn't easy though.

In the 27th minute, Barcelona drew first blood as Xavi and Pedro hooked up again and this time a settle pass by Xavi did the trick. Xavi got behind Michael Carrick and slotted the ball trough to Pedro, who had plenty of time to set up and strike it low into the near post as van der Sar had no clue where he was going and Barcelona took a 1-0 lead.

In the 33rd minute, Manchester United came right back to level it up. Fabio won the ball after a good challenge on, I believe it was Sergio Busquets and fed it to Wayne Rooney who had room to run at the Barcelona defense. Rooney slotted it to Ryan Giggs who looked to have been in an offside position on the pass, but the linesman kept his flag down and Ryan Giggs fed it back to Rooney at the top of the area for a first time hit into the left corner to level it up at one. Rooney has picked up his game lately and started scoring a lot of goals again after all the criticism early in the season.

In the second half, the equalizer didn't seem to hurt Barcelona as they started to pour a lot of pressure on the Red Devil defense early and often and in the 54th minute, they got rewarded for it.

Andres Iniesta fed the ball to Lionel Messi who took a couple of touches before ripping a low left foot drive through the back line and past Edwin van der Sar to put Barcelona ahead to good. It was Messi's 53rd goal in all compititions this season and his 1st on English soil. 15 minutes later, Barcelona put the match out of reach......

In the 69th minute, David Villa curled a right footed effort over van der Sar and into the back of the net to claim the Champions League title for Barcelona and end all arguements that the Barcelona squad from 2010-2011 are one of the great teams that have ever played the game.

My thoughts on this match:

Now, this isn't the first UEFA Champions League that I've watched, but this is the first UEFA Champions League final that I've watched on live TV. There were a lot of things about this final that were way different than the group stage matches and the knockout round matches. This match was played on a Saturday just a week after the conclusion of the Premier League season, and normally, the Champions League matches are played on Tuesdays and Wednesdays which they still are, but starting last season, the final itself was played on a Saturday, but I didn't keep any track of that. I mean I wasn't really paying attention to the schedule, so I ended up missing that match. Before then, the final was played on a Wednesday, so unless I was sick, there would be no way I would catch it live, and watching replays on ESPN Classic were boring because I already knew who won those matches. So, I think it's good that they started scheduling finals on a Saturday. And also, I think this match was worth watching.

Scoring summary:

Barcelona - Pedro Rodriguez (Xavi) 27'

Manchester United - Wayne Rooney (Ryan Giggs) 33'

Barcelona - Lionel Messi (Andres Iniesta) 54'

Barcelona - David Villa (Sergio Busquets) 59'

Misconduct summary:

Barcelona - Dani Alves (caution; Reckless tackle) 60'

Manchester United - Michael Carrick (caution; Reckless tackle) 61'

Manchester United - Antonio Valencia (caution; Barging over an opponent) 79'

Barcelona - Victor Valdes (caution; Delaying a restart) 85'

Lineups:

Barcelona - Victor Valdes; Dani Alves (Carles Puyol 88'), Javier Mascherano, Gerard Pique, Eric Abidal; Xavi, Sergio Busquets, Andres Iniesta; Pedro Rodriguez (Ibrahim Afellay 90'), David Villa (Seydou Keita 86'), Lionel Messi

Manchester United - Edwin van der Sar; Fabio (Nani 69'), Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra; Antonio Valencia, Michael Carrick (Paul Scholes 77'), Ryan Giggs, Park Ji-Sung; Javier Hernandez, Wayne Rooney

A couple of match previews for Saturday. Sounders vs Real Salt Lake + Manchester United vs Barcelona

By Money Mike

The Seattle Sounders head to Rio Tinto Stadium to face CONCACAF Champions League runners-up Real Salt Lake, who have still not lost a league match at Rio Tinto during regular season play. Last year, they nearly suffered that first loss against the Sounders in week three when Steve Zakuani and Tyrone Marshall scored for the Sounders, but goals by Will Johnson and Alvaro Saborio kept Salt Lake's unbeaten run in tact. These two sides draw both of their matches last season after each coming away with a split in 2009. Salt Lake's Arturo Alvarez and Alvaro Saborio are both on international duty and won't be with the club this weekend.

Injury report:

Seattle Sounders FC - Really, no new injuries here. Sigi Schmid says Brad Evans will be available for Saturdays match after recovering from a adductor strain

Real Salt Lake - The men out for Real Salt Lake are Javier Morales with a left ankle fracture dislocation and Paulo Jr. with a right hip flexor strain. Danny Toia is listed as questionable with a left ankle sprain. Fabian Espindola has a right hamstring strain and is listed as probable and Collen Warner is also listed as probable with a left ankle sprain.

Key matchups:

Will Johnson vs Osvaldo Alonso - I think this is a real midfield battle between one of the greatest goalscoring midfielders I've seen (Will Johnson) and a guy who has played more of a defensive midfield role (Osvaldo Alonso). I don't see why these two won't be matching up against eachother.

Fredy Montero vs Jamison Olave - Now these two players know each other very well. They're both from Colombia. They both were teammates at Deportivo Cali. And now, these two are matching up against each other again. I think this matchup decides it with Fredy still due for a breakout game.

Manchester United vs Barcelona:

Here's a match that all of you should catch at 11:30am on FOX. Manchester United and Barcelona, the UEFA Champions League final at Wembly Stadium in London, England. I'm definitely watching this match because you have a two teams with lots of firepower on their team, with Lionel Messi, David Villa, Pedro Rodriguez for Barcelona and on the other side with Manchester United, you got Chicharito Hernandez, Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov, Nani and all those guys. So, it's gonna be a busy soccer day, with the Sounders and RSL and Manchester United and Barcelona. We also have the friendly match here in Seattle with Mexico and Ecuador, but won't be able to catch that one, so apologies to all of you that were expecting a recap of that match. The only ones that will be recapped tomorrow are Seattle against Salt Lake and Manchester United against Barcelona.