Big Road Win For Liverpool, Crush Tottenham

 0-5 

Liverpool and Tottenham met at White Hart Lane for a Premier League matchup with big potential for the Reds.  First-place Arsenal lost the exciting match to Manchester City 6-3 the day prior, giving Liverpool a chance to gain on the league leaders.  Liverpool seized the opportunity and came away with a stunning win.

Through-balls were extremely effective against Tottenham all match with Luis Suarez, Raheem Streling, and Jordan Henderson getting behind the defense easily and often.  The first goal was scored when Henderson won a loose ball from defender Michael Dawson and played Suarez in-on-goal.  Suarez had to shake two defenders to work the shot, but scored and put Liverpool in front (18').

Henderson then scored later in the first-half following a barrage of shots by Liverpool.  Henderson took the initial shot that keeper Hugo Lloris saved well, but the rebound stayed in front of the Tottenham goal.  Suarez struck the rebound and Lloris made another big save to deny the goal, but again the rebound stayed in front of goal.  Lloris did all he could, however Henderson got a second chance and found the net for his first goal of the season (40').

The second-half did not improve for the Hotspurs and a loss of composure by Brazilian Paulinho left the home side playing with ten men.  Paulinho was caught with a high boot to the chest of Suarez and was send off with a red card.  From then on Liverpool was able to seemingly score at will and added three more goals after it was all over.

The young defender Jon Flanagan was next to score for Liverpool.  Suarez delivered the cross to Flanagan who scored with a well struck half-volley that caught a piece of the cross before finding the net (75').  Liverpool added two more when a pair of through-balls again beat Tottenham's back line.  First the substitute Luis Alberto played Suarez in-on-goal who finished with a chip-shot over Lloris caught off his line (84').  Then Suarez played Sterling in-on-goal who finished with a touch-shot for the last goal of the match (89').

Liverpool are now only two points behind Arsenal in the table with another winnable game against Cardiff City up next.  After that it will be two tough road tests against Manchester City and Chelsea.  The injuries to Steven Gerrard and Daniel Sturridge, among others, has not slowed Liverpool down yet as they remain in top form, but that could be a factor against the bigger clubs going forward.

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.

Brazil Head to Confederations Cup Final

2-1

South American neighbors Brazil and Uruguay met in the semifinals of the 2013 Confederations Cup.  Brazil were perfect in the group stage of the tournament, beating Japan, Mexico, and Italy.  Today Uruguay gave them a tough test and Brazil were lucky not to fall behind early in the match.

Defender David Luiz conceded a penalty after he was caught pulling down Uruguay's Lugano during a corner-kick.  Diego Forlan elected to take the penalty shot, but Brazilian keeper Julio Cesar blocked the shot and kept the game scoreless.

Near the end of the first-half the deadlock was broken when striker Fred put Brazil in front.  Neymar first poked a shot at goal and, coming off his line, Uruguay keeper Muslera parried it away.  The block did not clear the box though and Fred was able to finish the loose ball on an empty net (41').  

Uruguay were quick to equalize after the half-time break thanks to a poor decision by Luiz Gustavo.  Rather than just sending his clearance far down field, he tried to pass out of the back.  Unfortunately his pass went right to Cavani who seized the opportunity and leveled the score (48').  

The goal energized Uruguay and the match looked like it could go either way.  In the last moments of the game though, Brazil pulled back in front.  From a corner-kick, Paulinho won the header at the back-post and scored the deciding goal (86').

Brazil will face the winner of the other semifinal of Spain against Italy on Sunday.  A lot of pressure is on Brazil as the host nation to win, and the final promises to be an exciting match whoever they may face.

Brazil Open Confederations Cup With Win

3-0 

The 2013 Confederations Cup kicked-off today with host nation Brazil taking on Japan.  The Confederations Cup is like a preview/warm up for the 2014 World Cup and Brazil won the previous tournament in South Africa, beating the United States in the final.  As the host nation, there is a lot of pressure on Brazil and their young superstar Neymar who just signed a huge deal with Barcelona this off season.

The young forward got off to the perfect start today, scoring a fantastic goal on the first shot of the tournament.  Fullback Marcelo delivered the service that was brought down with a chest-trap by Fred at the edge of the box.  The chest-trap was laid off perfectly for Neymar who blasted a volley shot past the keeper for the only goal of the first-half (3').

Similar to the first-half, Brazil grabbed another goal just minutes into the second-half.  This time from the right side, fullback Dani Alves played a driven cross into the box that Paulinho was able to settle with his first-touch before firing a shot at goal.  The shot was towards the middle of the goal, but Japanese keeper Eiji Kawashima was slow to react and allowed the ball to slip under him and into the net (48').

One final goal was scored in stoppage-time for Brazil when Oscar was able to drive down the field and get defender Uchida turned around.  Oscar then slipped substitute Jo in-on-goal for an easy finish and a final score of 3-0 (90 +3').

Tomorrow Mexico will face Italy, then World Cup Champions Spain will take on Uruguay for two very exciting matches.