National Team, and Sir Alex Ferguson's reluctance to let him respond to the call. There's so much to talk about in the world of European soccer.
Sixteen teams have been abbreviated to eight in the UEFA Champions' League. No English teams remain, to the alert of critics. Of course, there were multiple shockers in second round play taking place earlier this week. AC Milan went into the second leg of the tie versus FC Barcelona ahead on aggregate 2-0. Barcelona was required to score two goals to send the second game into extra time and possibly penalties, or a minimum of three goals to win outright. They scored four, with no one other then Lionel Messi contributing two goals to the total. Another head-liner was Real Madrid's defeat of Manchester United. Manchester United had a slight advantage in the second game, having drawn the first at one goal a piece. Manchester had the momentum of one away goal. Instead, Nani was sent off in a controversial play, and Real Madrid scored two goals after United scoring only one; thus allowing Madrid to advance into the quarter-finals. The last game of major speculation was the tie between Bayern Munich and Arsenal. Bayern won the first match in London one-to-three. However, Arsenal struck back as hard as they could in Munich, winning a game filled with controversy 2-0, yet very nearly making the score 3-0 towards the end. Thus, the aggregate was 3-3, and Bayern Munich advanced on the away goals rule, meaning Bayern scored more away goals so they advance. So, after all the drama, the quarter-final draw consists of:
- Bayern Munich v. Juventus
- Paris Saint-Germain v. FC Barcelona
- Malaga v. Borussia Dortmund
- Real Madrid v. Galatasaray
I think that the amount of power in this quarter-final draw shows that the English shouldn't hang their heads. There's a lot of good soccer out there whether its German, Italian, Spanish or Turkish. I think there are someNemanja Vidić surprises in the draw though. One that really sticks out is the match up between PSG and Barcelona. Of course the draws are random, but Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona are arguably two of the better teams of the eight remaining. However, it is probably widely known that Barcelona has the upper hand. Another key pairing is Bayern Munich and Juventus. Juventus is the last Italian team left in the Champions' League which will serve as fuel to the team. However, Bayern Munich are hungry to go all the way after being the runners up to Chelsea. In addition, Borussia Dortmund shouldn't have a tough time with Malaga, a Spanish club lost in the shadows of FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. Speaking of Spaniards, Real Madrid shouldn't have an issue with the little known Turkish club going by the name of Galatasaray.
On a final note of discussion, the 32-year-old Manchester United back Rio Ferdinand has been in the news lately for his calling up to the English National Side. He's played a vital role in United's defence lately. During
Nemanja Vidić's injury-related absence, Rio has stepped it up, contributing largely in United's last four games, all being clean sheets, or shut-outs as described in hockey or American football. However, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is reluctant to let Ferdinand go play for the national squad, citing that he may be playing to many matches and thus cause to much physical stress on the 32-year-old footballer. However, I don't think this is a valid point, because during World Cup Qualifying matches, he will have to miss league games to play international games; Many of Ferdinand's Manchester United team-mates already do just that.
There's so much going on at the moment in the world of soccer. Many of the European leagues, such as the Premier League, have less than ten matches to go in the season. Soccer is at its busiest this time of year.
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