"Weekly" Football Post #86

Only two of my beloved soccer squads saw action over the weekend, but the first game was one of the biggest in quite some time for this hooligan.

Headline #1- Celtic smashes Rangers upside the head.

I love that ESPN posts the headlines from the two team's fan blogs in their review of the match, "'Gers Blog: Painful viewing - Celtic Blog: I just can't get enough!" That just about sums up the feelings of both sides over the weekend, as the Bhoys surprised 'Gers with a healthy 3-0 romping. Gary H88per had his Irish eyes focused on a double, and Kris "Not So" Commons came through with one of his own. 

The fans were in full gear, especially focused on taking the time to boo El-Hadji Diouf every time he touched the ball. For those who don't remember, Diouf actually spit on a Celtic fan when Rangers came to town back in 2003 (that's how classless these jokers are). We will never forget, you sick bell end. 17 minutes in, Celtic struck with Commons feeding Hooper for a blaster. 28 minutes deep, Georgios "I'm Finally On The Pitch" Samaras found Hooper again, and #88 easily stabbed the ball into the net. Commons would connect in the 70th with a nifty pass from Hooper (what, were there only like 3 Celtic players on the pitch?), and that was that.

Celtic skipper Neil Lennon has stopped the media in their tracks every time the issue of the SPL title comes up. Even though the win puts Celtic 8 clear of second place Rangers, he doesn't want to talk about it. Good for him, because it'd be hard for me to tamper my excitement about a possible return to glory after a win like that. 

Next up for the first place Hoops (64 points in 26 games) is a test against #5 Motherwell on Sunday. 

Headline 2- Chivas USA shows Vancouver what the MLS preseason is all about.

Welcome to the MLS, Whitecaps. Sure, it's just the preseason, but take that! Now, I'll admit that if I didn't already have a MLS team that I was in love with, I'd probably jump on the Whitecaps bandwagon, but when it comes to American soccer, I bleed red and white (well, at least red). Chivas met up with Vancouver at their training grounds in Casa Grande, Arizona (a town I'm actually very familiar with thanks to a couple of friends), and knocked them off the pitch with a 1-0 win.

The golden goal came from none other than San Jose's own Jesús "El Gringo" Padilla. Padilla broke through a trap on a long ball from Michael Umaña "From Heaven" in the 89th minute, and came in all alone on the Whitecaps keeper. When you've got Padilla bearing down on you with no help, you've got no chance to stop him. Boom, 1-0 Goats.

Other highlights in the uneventful match was the play of Zach "The Beast" Thorton. ZTB held strong throughout the game, though not facing much heat, and is makig Robin Fraser's life a little more difficult when it comes to picking his starting pipe cleaner come the March 19 opener with Sporting Kansas City. The new-look Chivas defense looked pretty good. Jimmy Conrad, Zarek Valentin, Heath Pearce, and Umaña all held there own, and Conrad even jumped into the hearts of fans by mixing it up with a 'Caps player, earning a yellow. 

Up front, Alejandro Moreno was the main striker in an interesting 4-1-4-1 formation that they probably wouldn't even let you pick in FIFA '12. Flash Gordon and Zip Gavin were also pushing up frequently in the formation, and did some nice work, but nothing came of it. Vancouver actually showed some nice effort on the backline, and it'll be interesting to see how they turn out this season. 

The final preseason game for Chivas is 3/12 against FC Dallas.

Also: My boys from the Toon didn't play over the weekend, gathering some much needed time off, but they return to the pitch this Saturday against Bolton, as they look to continue to improve.

Don't forget, Jon Davis, March 5 is Newcastle/Everton, and we're bringing it, so I hope you'll be ready to suffer.

-- Sent from my Palm Prē