West Bromwich Albion - Owning the Goal

Short and sweet today as the replay wasn't on until well after the result was in the bag. I followed on iFooty and after a thousand refreshes, saw Everton finish off a great week by winning 2-0 for the third time in a row, and leaping, for now, into 7th place in the EPL.

Another curious thing about soccer is the own goal, "scored" when a player deflects the ball into their own net for a gift to the other side. It seems it's been a more common occurrence this year than in others, but it happened twice in the Toffees favor this week. The thing about own goals is they are always different. The goal that Sunderland put in their own net was the very definition of an own goal. The defender had all the chance in the world to clear the ball, but put it cleanly in the back of his net. Today was much different. The lovely strike by Leon Osman took a slight deflection before heading home. In both cases, the offensive players got no credit for the goals, but clearly Osman should have. Believe it or not, a Goals Committee exists for just the case of deciding what is and isn't an own goal. Brilliant. On to Easter Weekend and games Saturday v. Norwich and Monday v. Sunderland before the FA Cup Semi-Final Darby in two weeks. Up the Toffees...

Sunderland - Round 2...Wembley!

I had to break down and purchase the Fox Soccer Plus package finally. I had no choice really. The replay of the FA Cup 6th Round v. Sunderland was being shown (delayed), and I couldn't very well miss it. Let's just say it will be the best $2.99 a month I have spent in awhile. From beginning to end, Everton completely dominated the Black Cats, and Nicika Jelavic provided the first goal, and created the second, an own goal for Sunderland. A 2-0 win felt like a 10-0 win. Every player showed up from the get go and played well, and it didn't hurt that Sunderland did pretty much the opposite.

So we are through to the semi-finals at Wembley, and what a big one it will be. Everton were drawn against Liverpool on April 14th, so another Derby will be upon the Toffees soon. Everton haven't won a trophy since 1995, and most recently lost in the FA Cup final in 2009. Despite the fastest goal ever in FA Cup history by Louis Saha, Chelsea overcame the early deficit and won 2-1. It's all about trophies in soccer, and if you can't have the Premier League title (or Champions League), the FA Cup is the next best thing. Two weeks from Saturday, hopefully Everton will be one step away, against our rivals to boot. Up the Toffees.

Swansea City - Maybe It's Better If I Don't Watch

The game against Swansea (the Swans of course) wasn't on anywhere yesterday, and I was so busy with other stuff, I didn't even check the score until well after the final whistle. Of course the Toffees got a great away win after goals from Baines (of course a free kick) and Jelavic. A solid win on the road and it moves us up to a tie for 8th place with Sunderland (although we are down 7 on goal difference). I think Everton are undefeated this year in games I don't watch. But don't think for a minute I won't be watching the FA Cup on Tuesday!

Twitter has been such a useful tool to quench my soccer thirsts, whether it be posting this blog, following great soccer writers like Grant Wahl and Leander Schelackens, reading other blogs, or, what I love the most, following the Everton players. I'm sure many other teams have players on Twitter, but I can't imagine that any team has guys that show the same candor, compassion, and humor as the Toffees. With Tim Cahill, Sylvain Distain, Phil Neville, Stephen Pienaar, Louis Saha, and Landon Donovan all exchanging tweets back and forth, it provides for some laughs and entertainment. We wouldn't see this in America from Lebron James or Eli Manning, as the media would jump on them for any little joke made. Just another reason why I love EFC and the EPL. Up the Toffees, hopefully to an FA Cup semi-final v. Liverpool!

Arsenal - At A Fever Pitch

Another mid-week battle against a top contender, and while a better effort was put forward by Everton, the result was the same, a loss. Arsenal completely dominated the first 20 minutes and the score could have been 4-0 easily, but some solid (desperate?) defense by the Toffees back four kept it at 1-0. RR Drenthe was called offside on a goal late in the half when he clearly wasn't, but those are the breaks. Certainly some promise showed in the second half, as EFC was on the attack, but the game ended at 1-0 to the Gunners.

One of the many aspects of my obsession with the beautiful game has been my need to devour as many books as I can about soccer. Some are funny, others moving, and still others historical. Currently I am reading The Ball is Round; A Global History of Football by David Goldblatt. All 900 pages of it. One of my favorite books of all I have read, not just soccer tomes, is the tremendous and still relevant Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby. Written in 1998, it depicts Hornby's life growing up an Arsenal fan. It is a must read for any sports fan, not just soccer enthusiasts. At the same time, it's both hilarious and endearing, his obsession frightening and understandable, and the details informative and well-written. Ironically enough, the book is the basis for the American movie of the same name about a fan's obsession with the Boston Red Sox. While the movie left a good deal to be desired, one can see the similarities with an Arsenal and a Red Sox fan. The bottom line is that any fan of any team can sympathise with Hornby, and laugh along while doing so.

Sunderland - Replaying the Match

Had to work until 1 on Saturday, so the result was already determined once I started watching the recorded FA Cup quarterfinal against the Black Cats from Sunderland (my former colleague Matt's squad). Of course that didn't prevent me from donning my EFC jersey for good luck. Luck came in the form of Tim Cahill equalizing on a brilliant header to send the match to another stop in a week or so. It ended 1-1 after an exciting first half.

The replay is something unique to soccer, and only happens in competitions such as the FA or Carling Cups. We are so accustomed to using overtime at each tie game; we need a winner. But in the Cup runs, when two teams are tied after 90 minutes, instead of them continuing to play, they end the match and a replay is needed. The second match goes to the away teams home ground, and only then will they got to extra time and penalties if needed. Hopefully Everton can survive the Sunderland replay away to reach the semis of the Cup. Up the Toffees.

Liverpool - The Derby (ugh)

This will be short and not so sweet. It had all the makings of a great week after the Spurs win, and then today. Moyes chose, what some would say, a questionable side, and, aside from a couple of first half chances, Liverpool dominated. Gerrard bagged a hat trick and Everton were uncharacteristically emotionless, losing 3-0.

The Derby (pronounced Darby) is a rivalry game between two teams residing in the same city. In this case, Anfield and Goodison Park sit just a half mile away, and these two teams have played more times than any other two teams in the Premier League. Other Derbies include Chelsea v Tottenham, Sunderland v Newcastle, and of course Man United v Man City. But the Liverpool Derby rises above them all. Red v Blue, The Haves v The Have Nots, Upper Class v Working Class. This fixture has had more red cards than any other. I just hope we can play one more time at Wembley. On to the FA Cup...Up the Toffees.

Tottenham - A Divided Household

I'll preface this entry with the detail that my wife is a Tottenham fan. She tolerates my obsession with soccer, and even is willing to play along. I thought it would be much more fun if she picked a team, so I went through the squads on FIFA 12, and she loved Tottenham's logo, colors, and Garreth Bale. And today she asked, "Who's that?" when Brad Friedel, Spurs keeper, was shown. When I told her, she responded, "He's handsome." Another feather in their. Unfortunately she was disappointed today, as Everton pulled off their third straight victory at home of a top five team, and a third straight shutout to boot. New signee from Rangers, the "Croatian Sensation" Jelavic notched his first goal for EFC and it held as the Toffees defense stood strong in the second half and came away with a 1-0 victory.

The game today was shown on Fox Soccer Channel, and while I can't remember their names, the announcers were tremendous. I love the English commentators, they are honest, not afraid to speak their minds, and, most importantly, hilarious most of the time. My favorite part about watching and listening to them is hearing phrases and sayings we would never hear in America. A couple of examples from today:
- When the ball came out of bounds and David Moyes passed it back to Leighton Baines for the throw-in, "David Moyes with his first touch of the day."
- After the camera showed a couple covering themselves with fleece EFC blankets, "It's just getting cold enough to break out the Everton duvets."
- When Luka Modrich made a run through the middle, the Spurs player, "Introduced Modrich."
- Any use of the word, "Debut". We think of music or entertainment, but today's goal by Jelavic was especially special in his "home debut."
- And finally, when a player takes an less than opportunistic shot from well outside of the box, hopeful of a miracle, "That was an audacious (sometimes optimistic) effort."

I could listen to them all day. And I could definitely listen to Goodison Park rocking like it was today forever. Up the Toffees.

QPR - Relegation Nation

It's been two weeks since Everton played a match, but now the contests will come fast and furious as yesterday marked the start of six matches in the month of March. The Toffees looked the better side in the first half, including Royston Drenthe's immaculate wonder strike to put EFC up 1-0. Unfortunately just a few minutes later Drenthe showed why he's not the most complete player by giving a bad foul just outside the box that led to a QPR goal. The second half was uneventful, save for a few solid Tim Howard saves, and the match ended 1-1. The good news is that Everton remain uneaten in their last 10 matches as they head toward an important month.

Queens Park Rangers (QPR) is one of the newly promoted teams to the Premier League this year, and lately it has shown. While they were lucky to obtain the draw yesterday, they are still in the bottom five, where just two points separate all five teams. While they are struggling, the other two promoted sides, Norwich and Swansea, are having solid years and have all but assured they will remain in the top flight. It would be a rarity if all three end of staying up, as the last time it happened was in 2001-02. On the flip side, only once have all three teams been relegated. QPR still have some work to do, and it's getting to the point in the season where every game seems to count double or triple. Should be a fun end to the season.