Problems for Portugal, Hat-Trick for Müller

 4-0 

Everyone already knows Christiano Ronaldo is the best player on the Portugese team.  Many would go on to say that he is the best player in the world.  Today Portugal played their first match of the World Cup against Germany and before Ronaldo could make any kind of impact, the Protugese defense completely let them down.

First rightback João Periera pulled down Mario Götze in the box and a penalty was awarded for Germany.  Periera also saw a yellow card for the offense.  Thomas Müller elected to take the penalty kick and scored from the spot to take the lead (12').

Soon after falling behind Portugal were dealt another blow when starting center forward Hugo Almeida came out holding his hamstring and went straight to the bench.  Éder replaced him in the offense and had a few close chances to score with headers, though none found the net.

Germany then added a second goal on a set-piece.  Toni Kroos delivered the corner-kick into the box and centerback Mats Hummels won the header.  Hummels was able to jump right over defenders Pepe and Bruno Alzes to get the header, putting Germany further ahead (32').

Things only got worse for the Portugese defense when a brash move by Pepe led to his dismissal from the pitch.  Pepe caught Müller in the face with a raised hand and Müller went to the ground.  Pepe felt that Müller went down too easily and had some words for him while on the ground.  However he didn't just have words for Müller, he also head-butted the German forward and the ref sent him off with a straight red card.

Just before half-time Müller scored his second goal of the match when he took the ball off Bruno Alves in the box.  Bruno Alves was attempting to clear the ball from his box, but Müller got in the way and managed to fire a snap-shot to again beat the keeper (45 +1').

The match was essentially over at half-time with Portugal behind three goals and playing a man down.  Unfortunately for Portugal their troubles were not over.  Leftback Fabio Coentrão went down with a groin injury and had to be taken off on a stretcher.

Late in the game Müller scored a final goal to complete his hat-trick.  Substitue Andre Schurrle played a cross into the box that Portugese keeper Particio got a hand to.  Particio did not get any power on his attempted clearance though, and Müller easily scored the loose ball left in front of the net (78').

It is somewhat difficult to determine if Portugal was really that bad, or if Germany was just that good.  Portugal was already losing by two goals when Pepe was sent off, but perhaps they might have made some kind of comeback in the second-half if they still had eleven players.  Next for Portugal is the United States and I would expect one of two things to happen.  Either they use today's loss as an excuse to give up and play two more heartless matches, or come out with a chip on their shoulders and punish the United States.

Real Madrid Blowout Bayern Munich, Reach UCL Final

 0-4 

Real Madrid travelled to Germany for the second-leg of their Champions League semi-final today with Bayern Munich.  Madrid barely edged the defending champions in the first-meeting 1-0 and now playing on the road Madrid needed another solid performance in this hostile environment.  Munich are normally unbeatable in their home stadium, but today found themselves in trouble very early in the match.

Madrid centerback Sergio Rames scored a pair of goals in the opening stages of the game to put Munich in a three goal hole.  First on a corner kick by Modrić, Ramos made a late run to the back-post where he was given a free header that he put into the net (16').  Just minutes later on another set-piece Ramos won a second header in front of Munich's goal to increase the lead.  Di María delivered the free-kick into the box and Pepe helped the cross along with a flick header to Ramos at the back-post for the score (20').

Real Madrid added one more goal in the first-half on a counter-attack through the middle of the field.  Bale was released on a break-away and at the last moment laid the ball off to Ronaldo who had a free shot and scored through the legs of keeper Neuer coming off his line (34').  By the end of the first-half the match was essentially over.  Bayern came into the match already down one goal from the previous match and found themselves in far greater hole by half-time.

Now needing five goals to overcome their tremendous deficit, Munich essentially gave up in the second-half.  Following the half-time break Bayern manager Pep Guardiola removed the central striker Mandzukic and inserted the defensive midfielder Javi Martínez.  Later other attacking players Müller and Ribery were taken out in place of Götze and Pizarro.  None of the changes made a positive impact on the game and Madrid even added a final goal at the end of regulation.

Ronaldo had two opportunities to score from well-placed free-kicks at the end of the match and finished the second chance.  His first free-kick was blocked by the wall, but the second time Ronaldo fired the shot low and rolled the ball under the wall as they jumped to score (90').

Surprisingly this is the first time in over ten years that Real Madrid have made it the Champions League final.  Tomorrow their opponent will be decided when Chelsea take on Atletico Madrid for their semi-final second-leg at Stamford Bridge.

Bayern Munich Down Man United, On To Semi-Finals

 3-1 

Manchester United and Bayern Munich came away from the first meeting of the Champions League quarter-final with a 1-1 draw last week at Old Trafford.  Today in Germany, the second-leg was played with Munich starting the match with a slight away-goal advantage as well as home-field advantage.  

Although United were the team that had to score, they came out with a defensive mindset hoping to weather the initial storm that is the Bayern attack.  With seventy percent of possession in their favor, Munich failed to break down the United defense and the first-half ended scoreless.  The second-half, on the other hand, was far more exciting with momentum going back and forth quite quickly.  

After the half-time break Patrice Evra scored a spectacular goal to give United the lead.  A cross from Valenica was not cleared by any Bayern defender and Evra was able to run onto it and blast his shot back across the face of goal to score (57').  The lead was taken away in the blink of an eye however, as Mandžukić scored a header at the opposite end immediately following the goal from United (59').

At this stage of the match, the two teams were level on aggregate with one away-goal for each club.  United had done well to keep Bayern from scoring up that point, but the flood gates opened and Bayern put two more on the board.  First Robben setup Thomas Müller with a cross into the box that the forward managed to get enough on to turn into the United net (68').  Then Robben scored a final unassisted goal by coming across the box on his left-foot and rolling the shot inside the post (76').

With an aggregate score of 4-2, Munich ended with a comfortable margin over the Premier League team who go home empty handed.  The more surprising result of the day was the win by Athletico Madrid over Barcelona, eliminating the Catalans from the tournament.  The draw for the semi-finals is set for Friday with Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, and Athletico the four remaining teams in the competition.  The first-legs of the semi-finals are set for April 22 and 23 and should be an exciting build-up to the Final in Lisbon.

United Draw Bayern Munich, Schweinsteiger Sent Off

 1-1 

Bayern Munich came to England today to face Manchester United for a Champions League quarter-final.  The first-leg meeting at Old Trafford was another tough test for the Premier League club taking on the defending Champions League title winners.

The first-half was quite forgettable for the home team as Bayern Munich completely dominated United. In fact Munich held nearly eighty percent of possession and forced United to play in their defensive third for almost the entire half.  Ryan Giggs was a ghost, Fellaini could not hold possession, and Phil Jones offered nothing in terms of offensive support.  Fortunately for United the visitors were not able to score and they had a chance to regroup during the break.

After half-time Giggs was pulled and replace by Kagawa, likely because of his experience against Bundesliga teams.  The change was positive and Kawaga assisted in creating the first goal of the match.  Kagawa delivered a corner-kick into the box and Vidic was able to score with a glancing header to back-post (58').

The lead did not last long however, as Bayern Munich's substitute Mario Mandžukić assisted on a goal at the other end.  Fullback Rafinha played a ball into the United box and Mandžukić headed it back down for Schweinsteiger who finished with a half-volley (67').  Although Schweinsteiger put his team level with United, his day ended on a sour note.  A late tackle on Rooney earned him a second yellow card and he was sent off in the final moments of the match meaning he will miss the second-leg of the quarter-final.

Bayern Munich have an away-goal advantage heading into the replay in Germany next week and will have home field advantage.  United were out-played for most of the match, but managed to score nonetheless.  The second-leg should be exciting as both teams will feel that they can win and move onto the semi-finals.

Arsenal Collapse Against Bayern Munich in Champs League

 0-2 

For the second straight day an English club was reduced to ten men and conceded two goals in a Champions League match.  Manchester City fell 0-2 to Barcelona yesterday, a similar result for Arsenal playing Bayern Munich today.

The intensity was high at the start of the match as both clubs looked primed to score.  Arjen Robben for Bayern and Yaya Sanogo for Arsenal made their presences felt early, however it was defensive mistakes that set the tone for the match.  Two penalties were given in the first-half, one for each team.

First Mesut Özil dribbled into the box and made a move on Jérôme Boateng that forced the defender to commit a foul.  Boateng was shown a yellow card and Arsenal won a penalty.  Özil got to take the shot from the spot and tried to sneak it down the middle.  Keeper Neuer wasn't fooled though and made the save to deny the penalty (9').

After half-an-hour Arsenal defender Kieran Gibbs could not continue and had to be replaced by Nacho Monreal.  Things then got worse for Arsenal when their keeper missed a challenge on Robben and was shown a red card.  Robben was able to win a ball played over the top before keeper Szczesny could break up the play and was caught by the keeper coming off his line.  Along with the red card, a penalty was given and David Alaba was called up to take the shot.  Alaba missed wide left from the spot though, and the score remained level (40').

Playing the entire second-half down a man, Arsenal were forced to drop inside their penalty area and defend constantly.  Similar to Barcelona, Bayern were able to keep nearly all of possession and work a pair of goals against a depleted English side.

Captain Philipp Lahm was involved in both goals, producing the final pass each time.  First Lahm played a square-ball along the edge of the box that Toni Kroos struck first-time.  The shot from Kroos had just enough curl on it to bend around the reach of the keeper and slip back inside the near-post (54').

Then near the end of the match Lahm played a chipped ball into the box to pick out the run of Thomas Müller who came in late off the bench.  Müller was left unmarked and drove the header down to beat the keeper for Bayern's second and final goal of the match (88').

The German club now has a huge advantage going into the replay in Munich on March 11th.  Two away goals will need to be matched by Arsenal when they meet again, and the defense needs to be perfect to stop the dynamic Munich attack.

Bayern Munich Bust, Manchester City Prevail

 2-3 

The final round of the group stage in the Champions League started today with Manchester City playing Bayern Munich in Germany.  Both clubs earned enough points to advance out of the group stage coming into today's match, with Bayern Munich winning the last five including the meeting with City back in October.  Manchester City won every other match played in the Group D and had a chance to take the top stop away from Bayern.

Two early goals for Bayern Munich gave the home side a huge advantage and set the game up for a total blow-out.  Thomas Müller scored the first goal when defender Dante played him behind City's back line with a long diagonal pass.  Müller brought the ball down with a great chest-trap before beating keeper Joe Hart (5').  Mario Götze then added a second goal minutes later when a deflected shot fell for him.  Replay showed he may have been just offsides, but the flag stayed down and he was able to finish from close-range (12').

Manchester City's fortunes got worse before they get better.  Starting right-back Micah Richards had an issue with his hamstring and had to be replaced by Zabalete after only fifteen minutes.  Zabaleta is usually preferred in the starting eleven, but manager Manuel Pellegrini had intended to save him for the big Premier League game with Arsenal.  In any case, Zabaleta was an improvement, and City took over the match.

The come-back started when David Silva was left unmarked on a late run into the box.  Jesus Navas initiated the play with a cross to James Milner at the back-post.  Milner could only head the ball back to middle, and Silva came running in late to score for City (28').

The visitors took the momentum into the second-half and out-played Bayern for the rest of the match.  Milner won a Penalty for Manchester City when Dante missed his tackle and took down the winger in the box.  Aleksandar Kolarov stepped up to take the Penalty and scored from the spot to tie the game (59').

Then moments later a terrible mistake by Bayern defender Jerome Boateng opened the door for City to take the lead.  A cross by Navas was rolled into the box and Boateng was in good position to clear the ball off the line.  However he completely whiffed on his attempt and the ball kept rolling right to Milner at the back-post.  Milner finished with a well struck curling shot to pull ahead and silence the home fans (62').

Bayern Munich could not muster a response equalizer and end a ten game Champions League winning streak.  The German club still win the group by goal-differential, but Manchester City get the payback.  Manchester United also qualified for the knockout stage today while Chelsea and Arsenal will play tomorrow to earn their spots.