Tottenham Edge Swansea with Penalty

1-0

Tottenham has had to make several changes over the offseason with Dempsey, Bale, and Parker all leaving the club.  The Spurs signed some quality players to fill those gaps including Spanish striker Soldado and Brazilian midfielder Paulinho who contributed to today's win over Swansea City.

Playing at White Hart Lane, Tottenham were the more dominant team from the start especially Paulinho who was able to find space all over the pitch and forced several saves from the Swansea keeper.

Late in the first-half Swansea were lucky to avoid conceding a penalty when Tottenham's Townsend was fouled by Shelvey in the box.  The foul was given, but the referee thought the foul occurred just outside the box when in fact it was in the penalty area.  Then in the second-half Shelvey was again called for a foul on Townsend.  This time the foul was clearly inside the box, however it seemed rather obvious that Townsend took a dive to draw the foul.  (Quid Pro Quo I guess.)  Soldado took the penalty and scored from the spot for the only goal of the match (58').

Perhaps the more interesting match of the day was between Manchester City and the newly promoted Cardiff City.  Manchester City were first on the scoreboard, but three second-half goals for Cardiff City put them out of reach to give them their first Premier League win.

Aston Villa Own-Goal the Difference for Chelsea

2-1

Playing the midweek match at Stamford Bridge, Aston Villa caught a bad break early in the match, conceding an own-goal.  Chelsea's Hazard fired a shot from the left side that keeper Guzan had covered.  Guzan parried the shot away from his goal, but right at his teammate Luna who inadvertently sent the ball back into his own net (6').

Chelsea were well in control for the first-half with 70% of possession while holding Aston Villa to only one shot.  On top of that Aston Villa had to make a change to their back line when Clark received a gash on his forehead that required stitches.  However in the first-half stoppage time, Villa finally managed to get a shot on target.  Winger Agbonlahor made a strong run up the left side that forced Cahill out wide to defend.  With Cahill out of place Agbonlahor picked out Benteke in the box who found just enough space to slip his shot inside the near-post (45 +3').

Chelsea continued to maintain about 70% of possession in the second-half, and retook the lead from a set-piece.  Lampard delivered the free-kick into the box that landed perfectly for Ivanovic right in front of goal.  Ivanovic finished with a clean header, struck down to give the keeper no chance (73').

Aston Villa had a couple good chances to score themselves in the second-half, but twice Weimann was denied by keeper Cech who made two great saves.

Though the season just started Chelsea are off to a perfect start under manager José Mourinho.  Next will be a big test for Chelsea as they travel to Old Trafford to take on the defending league champions Manchester United.

EPL Back, Liverpool Start with Win

1-0

The English Premier League is back and to kick off the season Liverpool hosted Stoke City.  Liverpool featured several of their new players including Spanish forward Iago Aspas, defender Kolo Touré, and keeper Simon Mignolet.  Still no Suarez for the Reds though as his suspension continues.

Early in the match Robert Huth nearly put Stoke ahead, but his shot was denied by the crossbar.  Similarly Kolo Touré hit the crossbar with his header at the other end moments later.  Liverpool created more chances in the first-half and it was Daniel Sturridge who finally beat the keeper.  From just outside the box, Sturridge blasted his shot through the legs of defender Huth and out of the reach of keeper Begović to score (37').

The goal from Sturridge was the only score of the match, though Stoke had a golden opportunity to equalize.  Defender Agger was called for a handball inside the Liverpool box to concede a penalty.  Walters took the penalty shot for Stoke but keeper Mignolet came up big and denied the goal.

While Begović was the loosing keeper today, he actually had a very good game as well.  The Stoke keeper made 10 saves over the course of the match and kept his team in contention.  He did not get any help at the other end however, and Liverpool win their opening day match.

Altidore Scores Hat-Trick in US Friendly

3-4

The US Men's National Team travelled to Sarajevo to play an friendly against Bosnia and Herzegovina today.  Team USA had a number of changes to their line-up from their previous match, the Gold Cup final, and got off to a slow start.

Manchester City's Edin Dzeko put Bosnia and Herzegovina in front early in the match when he found space behind the US defense.  His initial shot was saved by keeper Tim Howard, but the rebound came right back to Dzeko and he finished with his second chance (8').  Later in the first-half Ibišević also scored for Bosnia on a second effort corner by winning a header (30').  The replay showed that Ibišević was slightly offsides, but since the game was a friendly, the US did not protest much.

After half-time Bosnia and Herzegovina made four substitutions while the US only made one.  The changes to the Bosnian team opened the door for the United States, especially Jozy Altidore.  First Altidore setup Eddie Johnson with a goal by trapping and laying off a well played ball over the top (55').  Soon after Fabian Johnson was able to play Altidore in-on-goal for his first score of the match (59').

Following the equalizer, the US and Bosnia made more substitutions including Aron Johannsson making his debut for the United States.  Johannsson made a positive impact on the game, creating two good shots on goal.  However it was Altidore who made all the plays for the US.  From a free-kick, Altidore scored his second of the match with a perfectly struck shot, curled into the upper-ninety (84').  Moments later Altidore completed the hat-trick when he scored after being played in behind the defense by Bradley (86').

Dzeko also had one more goal late in the game, finishing with a glancing header to the far-post (90').  The game ended with a final score of 4-3 in favor of the United States.  Bosnia and Herzegovina are not really known as a football powerhouse, but right now they are leading their World Cup Qualifying group and are ranked 13th in the FIFA world rankings.  Although it was just a friendly match, this is a good win for the US as coach Jurgen Klinsmann has shown he can win with a number of different lineups.