Champions League Update

I caught as much Champions League action as possible this week, which means just two games since we don't get ESPN Classic here in the dorms. But, I caught the Man U-Inter game yesterday then Chelsea-Juve today. Two pretty entertaining games that I'm going to rehash really quickly right now. I know most of you aren't soccer fans so I'm going to keep this relatively short and then I'll be back with a hoops article in the next few days.

Firstly, Man U. Despite only getting a draw, they showed a dominating performance. Something that is really scary when you take into account the fact that not only were they away and missing 3 defenders (which was a surprise; would've been 4 if Johnny Evans didn't step onto the field), they also had Tevez and Rooney on the bench and got absolutely nothing out of Berbatov sans some shoulder shrugs and angry gestures. The midfielders though picked it up. An ordinarly good performance from CR7, along with some typical showboating and some Oscar-worthy acting. Who really impressed me though was Ji Sung Park: Despite making some mistakes, he constantly found himself on/around the ball, putting himself in a position to make plays. Carrick and Giggs also played pretty well, but Giggs definitely had a few solid chances to score, so he could be a little disappointed. As for Inter, they played a boring, defensive game (Under Jose Mourinho? No way! hahaha), and got nothing out of Ibrahimovic, who had his first real chance to prove himself to the English fans/press.

Chelsea dominated the first half of their game, but Juventus showed some signs of life especially from from the 20th minute to the half-hour mark in a very exciting first 45. The second half though, was nothing to be compared to the first. It was filled with defensive mistakes, poor posession, and was generally unexciting.

As a Chelsea fan, I was still happy with the performance under new coach Guus Hiddink. Drogba looked reinvigorated. The difference between Hiddink Drogba and Scolari Drogba is like night and day. He looked reminisicent of the Mourinho Drogba in fact, with three clear cut chances in the first 15 (including the winner in the 12th). Ballack played a very effective, scrappy game as well. But other than those two, the other two guys who really impressed are probably surprises. John Mikel Obi was fantastic in that holding midfield position, looking like a young Vieira/Makelele, doing great coming back on defene and also playing as the anchor of a tantalizing Chelsea attack. Kalou was the real centerpiece of the Chelsea offense though. He was nothing short of brilliant from the right wing position, constantly making plays, including the brilliant pass that assisted Drogba for his goal (with some help from Ballack who really hustled to retain the ball for the Blues in the first place).

All in all, I'm really excited about the direction Chelsea will take for the rest of the season with new additions Guus Hiddink and Ricardo Quaresma (one of my favorite players). The development of young guys like Kalou, Mikel, and Mancienne is also tremendously impressive and important. It seems like the Blues might be too far behind in the Premiership but they're still alive in the Champions League and domestic tournaments in England, so here's to the rest of the season! Cheers.