Sports Desk- English Soccer Winners

Interesting week for English soccer as many rivals met each other. Yesterday, English soccer star Glen Johnson (pictured here) kicked in the game-winng goal for Liverpool against his former team Chelsea, giving his new team a 2-1 win. Argentinian Maxi Rodriguez scored for Liverpool earlier in the 33rd minute. And, Englishman Daniel Sturridge scored the lone goal for Chelsea in the 55th minute.

I was able to watch that game on American television yesterday, but I overslept Arsenal's 2-1 win over Norwich City, which aired at 7:30 a.m. here in les etats unis SAturday morning. Dutch star Robin ven Persie game through for Arsenal with goals in the 27th and 59th minute. Welsh player Steve Morison scored for Norwich in the 16th minute.

League leader Manchester City also won on Saturday by pummeling Newcastle 3-1. The goals for Manchester City came from Italian Mario Balotelli (41st minute); English player M. Richards (44th minute) and Argentinian Kun Aguero (72nd minute). English player Dan Gosling scored the lone goal late in the game for Newcastle.

And, today, Tottenham climbed to a third place tie with Newcastle after the team's 2-0 win over Aston Villa. Both goals for Tottenham came from Togo national player Emmanuel Adebayor.

Manchester United is second behind Manchester City in the English League thanks to the team's 1-0 win over Swansea on Saturday.

Here are the complete results of weekend play:

Fulham 0 Sunderland 0

Manchester City 3 Newcastle 1

Tottenham 2 Aston Villa 0

Queens Park 3 Stoke City 2

Everton 2 Wolverton 1

Manchester United 1 Swansea 0

Liverpool 2 Chelsea 1

Arsenal 2 Norwich City 1

Blackburn 3 Wigan Athletic 1

W. Bromal 2 Bolton 1

SIDEBAR: I read a funny tweet from Turkish soccer authority Ahmet Bob Turgut, who lives here in America. The tweet was in Turkish, but it simply asked "Is Anyone in Turkey watching the MLS Cup?"

For those who missed it, irregardless if you are in Boston or Istanbul, was:
L.A. Galaxy 1 Houston 0. The lone goal for the Galaxy was scored by American soccer star Landon Donovan in the 72nd minute.

World Cup Players Worth Remembering

Today, since there are two quarter-final World Cup games to be played, we thought we'd share with you some of the players we will remember most from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

We have compiled 12 names, and we will post six of them here and six of them on our other blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time," which just recently got over 25,000 hits (well considering how poor the ratings once were this is good for us!)

Most of this info on all these players came from Wikipedia as I am a casual futbol fan though I have seen quite a few World Cup games though admittedly I feel asleep watching the first half of the Slovakia-New Zealand first round game, which aired very early here in les etats unis, and I promptly went back to bed!

Here are the six soccer players we are profiling here:

1) David Villa. (pictured here). Spain. Age 28. Plays for Barcelona. Wears #7. Has scored an impressive 42 goals in 62 games, including both goals in 2-0 win over Honduras in the first round and the lone goal in 1-0 win over Portugal to put Spain in quarter-finals. They play Paraguay later today.

2) Landon Donovan. United States. Age 28. Plays for Los Angeles Galaxy. Born in Ontario, Calif. Wears #10. Has scored 45 in 127 international games. In World Cup play (2010), he scored goals against Algeria, Slovenia and Ghana, which was alas not enough to win the game.

3) Lionel Messi. Argentina. Age 23. Plays with Villa for Barcelona (wow!). Helped Barcelona win the 2009 UEFA Cup. Scored an amazing four goals versus Arsenal (English team) in a 4-1 win over them on April 6. In World Cup play, he has scored once versus Mexico and twice versus South Korea. Argentina has yet to lose a game in South Africa. They play Germany in less than an hour.

4) Cristiano Ronaldo. Portugal. Age 25. Plays with Real Madrid. With six-year $132 million contract, Ronaldo is the world's most expensive soccer player. Had a disappointing World Cup, though he scored an impressive goal in the team's 7-0 drubbing of North Korea.

5) Lucas Barrios. Paraguay. Age 25. Plays for Barrusia Dortmund (German team). Was actually born in Argentina, but has Paraguayan mother. Got Paraguayan citizenship in the spring to play for national team. Has scored three goals in first international appearances. Nicknamed The Panther. Paraguay plays Spain later today.

6) Asamoah Gyan. Ghana. Age 24. Plays for Rennes (French team). Club teammates with American national player Carlos Bocanegra, a UCLA alum. Ironically, the two teams met in the last round where Ghana prevailed thanks to an extra-time goal by Gyan. But, alas Gyan choked yesterday in the 121st minute of play by missing a penalty kick versus Uruguay. Gyan redeemed himself by scoring on a penalty kick in the final stage of the game, but ultimately Uruguay won the match to advance to semi-finals.

Kudos to Team USA (In Spite of Ghana Loss)

Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey and goalie Tim Howard had an impressive World Cup tournament. We are proud of the American team which won their group over three quality teams in England, Slovenia and Algeria. Even though they lost to Ghana 2-1 on Saturday, we are very proud of team.

Donovan, 28, who scored the goal against Ghana on a penalty kick, will be rejoining his Los Angeles Galaxy teammates soon in MLS play as the team looks to improve on last year when they lost in overtime to Real Salt Lake in the league's title game.

Other countries of the world were disappointed by the weekend's results, including Mexico which lost to Argentina 3-1 yesterday.

A Mexican waiter Los Tres Magueyes Restaurant in Cary, NC, (well actually it was another Mexican restaurant in North Carolina, but this place does really exist!) told me on Friday: "Maybe, we beat Argentina. Maybe, we don't."

Much like the American team, Mexico had a good World Cup, but they simply faced a daunting opponent in Argentina which has yet to lose a game in South Africa.

For other World Cup news, check out our blog entry on Paul the Octopus on our other blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time."

You know while I'm doing this, I could actually be watching the Holland-Slovakia game which is going on right now. I imagine we know who tennis player Daniela Hantuchova is rooting for?!

Quote of the Day- Mario Beneditti (Uruguayan Poet)

Ahhh! No, Take Three!

All sorts of things have gone wrong with this entry which is dedicated to The World Cup. Today we quote the late Uruguayan poet Mario Beneditti (1920-2009) who lived almost as long as the great French filmmaker Eric Rohmer (1920-2010) who is best known for his masterpiece "Claire's Knee" (1971).

Today, Uruguay defeated South Korea 2-1 in a rainy mess at The World Cup. The game was played in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and Luis Sanchez kicked in two goals for the Uruguayan side, including the game-winner in the 80th minute.

If Landon Donovan and Team America beat Ghana (the game starts in about an hour), they will face Uruguay in the quarter finals.

Here is the quote from Beneditti:

"After all Death is a symbol that there was life."

SIDEBAR: Slovakian tennis goddess Daniela Hantuchova, whom we profiled earlier in the week lost to Czech tennis player Barbara Zahlavova-Strycova (editorial comment: why couldn't she have just stuck with her maiden name?!) in Wimbledon play yesterday.

SIDEBAR TWO: We don't normally apologize to Republicans on this blog, but we did not spell the name of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) correctly in a blog entry earlier this week.

Quote of the Day- Audrey Hepburn

She is best known for her role in "Breakfast at Tiffany's," yet she won an Oscar for her earlier performance in "Roman Holiday" with Gregory Peck.

We are quoting Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993) in our series of 32 quotes from 32 people associated with the 32 countries in the World Cup.

I must profess that with Hepburn we are sort of 'cheating' as she was born in Belgium, but she spent most of her adult life in Switzerland. Since the Swiss, who shocked Spain 1-0, are in the World Cup and Tintinland is not, we are posting Hepburn's quote for Switzerland.

Many Americans are surprised to learn that one of the nicest hotels in Istanbul, Turkey, is actually Swissotel, an international chain which also has hotels in Chicago (but presumably nowhere else in les etats unis, Berlin, Beijing, Lima (Peru) and (of course) Geneva. They also have two other hotels in Turkey in Ankara and Izmir.

The Swissotel in Istanbul overlooks the Bosporus and it also reportedly has a very, very nice spa.

As for the World Cup, in today's action, our American boys came from behind to tie Slovenia, a former Yugoslav republic which Sarah Palin probably thinks is in West Africa somewhere near Ghana (they are also in the World Cup).

The Slovenian goals came from Valter Birsa (25th min.) and Zlatan Ljubijankic (and, people think my Turkish last name is hard to spell!). While the American goals came from superstar Landon Donovan (48th min.) and Michael Bradley (82nd min.); there was also an American goal which was called back by referee Koman Coulibay from Mali (who coincidentally turns 40 on the Fourth of July).

Coulibay's Wikipedia page was hacked in response to the highly-controversial call sometime today. This of course makes me wonder if some kid from Skokie, Ill., (a Chicago suburb) or Bethesda, Md. (a DC 'burb), has to much time on his hands!

Oh, before I forget, here is our quote from Hepburn, who was also known for her charity work in places like Africa (perhaps she went to Ghana and Mali!):

"I was born with an enormous need for affection, and a terrible need to give it."

Shakespeare Over Soccer?!

The United State men's national soccer team hosted Turkey yesterday afternoon in a 'friendly' game in Philadelphia, which resulted in a 2-1 victory for the home team.

A few hours prior to learning about the game, I brought tickets to see a matinee performance of William Shakespeare's "All's Well That Ends Well" at the American Shakespeare Theatre in Staunton, Va., some four and a half hours south of Philly.

The soccer game was airing on ESPN-2 at 1:30 p.m., just a half hour before the curtain was to rise, so I phoned a friend in North Carolina to see if by chance he would tivo the game for me. As it turned out, Osman Bey (not his real name) was taking the whole extended family, a party of 11 people including his toddler grandchildren, to Philly for the game!

The game was apparently an exciting one as Turkey scored first on a goal from Arda Turdan, who plays for Istanbul powerhouse GalataSaray, in the 27th minute. But, the second half completely belonged to the home squad as Team America scored an equalizer in the 58th minute as Robbie Findley, who plays for the current MLS champ Real Salt Lake (Salt Lake City, Utah) lofted a pass to American star Landon Donovan of the L.A. Galaxy who in turned passed the ball to teammate Jozy Altidore who scored the goal.

Then, Clint Dempsey, on another Donovan assist, snuck the ball past Turkish goalie Volkan Demirel, who plays for another Istanbul powerhouse FenerBahce, in the 75th minute to give Team America a 2-1 lead which they held on to until game's end.

The match was played in front of 55,047 people at Lincoln Field. Afterward, Donovan told reporters that: "We're going to be good as we want to be." Team American next faces England in the World Cup in South Africa in June. Vice President Joe Biden will be attending the game in person.

As for the Turkish side, the newspaper "Today's Zaman" speculated that partisan Turkish soccer fans might be hostile towards new team coach Guus Hiddink (a Dutch citizen) if play doesn't improve. Turkey did not qualify for this year's World Cup though their arch rivals Greece did.

The Turkey-USA game put me in a bit of a political quandary as I am a Turkish-American, and though I grew up in Roanoke, Va., I felt compelled to root for my late father's country.

But, apparently, my situation was not as awkward as the one that Guiseppe Rossi, 23, an Italian-American soccer player who grew up in Clifton, NJ, faced as he chose not only to play for Italy, but he scored two goals for his team in a win over the United States earlier this year! Hence, some partisan American soccer fans have taken to calling him 'Judas.'

As for "All's Well That Ends Well," the production was simply delightful though I was glad I didn't have a Blackberry which might have forced me to check the score of the game during the play's intermission.

The ever-gorgeous actress Kelly McKinnon was delightful as The Countess and the barefoot pilgrim Mariana as was African-American actress Brandi Rhome who played the roles of Diana and Steward in the production. She plays Juliet in one of the troupe's other current plays "Romeo and Juliet." Rick Blunt also stood out as Parolles as did Josh Carpenter who played The Duke and (interestingly enough!) the widow.

For more information about tickets and performances, log on to www.ASCstaunton.com or call 1-877-MUCH-ADO.