The Liverpool Magicians

Some games pass unnoticed, and some games are meant to be remembered. It is an entirely different class of games though that would take me out of my extremely busy schedule to write a few words about, and such was Liverpool's astonishing 4-1 win over the champions of the world.

The 4-0 midweek thrashing of Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League (UCL) only meant one thing for the Liverpool players: they are not slowing down against Manchester United, and indeed they did not. So, while I was enjoying a really good sleep on Saturday morning, Liverpool were insulting the players of Manchester United with their speed, tricks and commitment to the game. The incredible speed of Fernando Torres, and the accuracy of passing from the likes of Kuyt and Gerard ultimately gave no chance for Man U to even think about coming back into the game.

It all started in Old Trafford, exactly three days after both Liverpool and Manchester United moved through to the 1/4 finals of the UCL, and it promised to be an interesting match. No one though, except perhaps Rafa Benitez, would have imagined Liverpool winning by that margin. Until that time, the united defense had only conceded one goal in their last 10 matches. To concede 4 in one game, it required something really special. But special it is this Liverpool team!

In the 22nd minute, Man U were awarded a penalty. C. Ronaldo scored with a powerful shot to the right of Reina, and things looked as if they are going in Man U's favor. It all changed a few minutes later though. Torres raced forward to a long ball and managed to beat Vidic to easily score past Van Der Sar. A defensive mistake from Evra was penalized by a kick from the spot, which Gerrard masterfully placed in the net, but the defining moment of the game was yet to come.


The ManU fans were waiting for the comeback, knowing their team will never just let things go that easy, but it was Vidic again who made things worse. Normally a rock in his side's defense, he harshly fouled Gerrard at the edge of the area. He got his marching orders and Liverpool got a free kick. But it is really the perfection of Liverpool's game that gave no chance to Man U. Aurelio struck the unstoppable free kick to effectively end the United's slowly fading hopes of the unlikely comeback. From then on, it was a matter of time. With 13 minutes to go, and 21 players on the pitch, there was only one way another goal would be scored, and so it was. Substitute Dossena, just like against Real, scored the fourth and final goal of the night, to write his name in the books of history, and wrap up a deserved win in the most unlikely place, at exactly the right time.

On February 11th...

The European leagues are all taking a break from football this mid-week, which means that there will be no action at the club level. This, however, will only give a break to the coaches of the best teams in Europe, but not to the players themselves.

As the clubs take a break, it is now the turn for the national teams to face off in a number of extremely interesting, and a number of well... less interesting games. Out of the various fixtures scheduled in the FIFA agenda this wednesday, three of them caught my attention; Brazil vs. Italy, Spain vs. England, and France vs. Argentina. So what's going to happen?

Well, let's start with the world Champions facing the Seleção. Marcello Lippi is back to coaching Italy, which means that Italy have a real chance of actually winning against the Brazil national team, and while the Brazil team should never ever be underestimated, they are not really in their best form in the recent times, which gives Italy a golden chance to avenge for their loss in the world cup Final of 1994. Have they met since then?

Brazil's national team does include Kaka, Ronaldinho, Pato, and Luis Fabiano among others, and three of those play in Italy, which means they actually know the italian game, but will that be good enough?

The more interesting game looks to me to be Spain vs. England. These two countries have the best leagues in Europe, and pretty much have the best players as well. I see in this game a summary of the games between Barcelona and Man U, Liverpool and Real Madrid, and many more combinations of that sort. I do feel, however, that Spain has an advantage here. England does not have a fully functional squad. They have one of the best two central defenders in the world; Ferdinand and Terry, but they do miss their best strikers and some midfielders; namely Rooney and Gerard. On the other side, Spain has a fully functional side, with not only the players in Europe who just won the European Championship, but some new youngsters, who are proving to be good enough to challenge for a place in an already crowded national team.

Finally, it will be nice to see Messi play with the Argentina national team when entertaining France in Marseille. With Henri and Abidal on the other side, it is always a beautiful prospect to see Barca players play against each other, and while I do not doubt the quality of Abidal and his experience in his position, marking Messi is not going to be easy for him.

My personal predictions:

Italy vs Brazil: 1-1
Spain vs. England: 2-0
France vs. Argentina: 1-2