Travelers (0) vs Pratt Eagle (2)

August 1st, 2007 - LP Wilson, Windsor, CT

The first time we played this team we knew they had a good goalie. And he made a few saves but nothing special. Last night their goalie won this game for them. I mean how many times did he come up with a great save? 4-5-6? Tony made a few great saves of his own. Espeically when we were trying to get the equalizer and leaving the defense thin. Besides those great saves what about all the near misses? Another 5-6-7 at least. They had a few also but we had alot more.

Inconsistent...maybe we can blame their good goalie for the loss, but I have to at mention our inconsistency this year. We played some great soccer at times. And we played wicked ugly soccer at other times. We had dedicated players who showed up all the time, but they were too few to make a difference. We need consistency, if you played great one game why not play great more often? If you show up to play why do you have dumb ass excuses not to show up more often? We had a 15 game season this year, we had 23 guys on the roster. I know there's vacation, injuries, work, and other things that get in the way. But look at the numbers. We avargaed 16 players per game where's the other 7? The bottom 7 (in attendance) were Gordon OK he was hurt, Kevin he joined after we had already had 5 games. I won't mention who the other 5 are because I don't want to be hated, but I'm sure most of you know who they may be.

Top 7 attendance, In no particular order, (Basile, Holl, Marrs, Cedar, Zehnder, Krechko, & Cage) 3 of these guys were NOT at the game for the playoffs! PLAYOFFS more important than the regular season games. They were on vacation....By the way I'll be in Block Island next week. If we had a game I was gonna drive back to CT for the game. Those who don't believe me F-OFF because I have done it 2 other times in the past for this team.

Part of soccer is having pride, passion and heart. Part of anything you do in life is that. We played most of this season with no heart, no pride, no passion for the sport or for the fun of it, or just for the greater feeling of being together away from all the problems in this f'd up world. My body is old, I feel the bumps and bruises every day, but for some reason when I'm out there playing soccer I don't feel the pain. There's people who want to play and can't because their country is at war and they might get blown up. There's people who can't play because they don't have grass to play on and yet they use the streets. There's people who lost legs, arms, eyesight, and still do sports with a passion, we were out there as a whole emotionless. Emotion is not yelling at the ref for thier stupidity, that's more stupidity. Emotion is getting the ball taken away from you and rather than put your head down or your arms up you turn around and run like hell to get that ball back. Emotion is when we lost last night you have nightmares of the misses, the mistakes that you made during the game that could have made a difference in the outcome. I really wish I was better at this writing english thing so I can better inspire this team to play at our potential. But it's difficult when after a game we sit around and drink and BS about baseball rather than the game we just played. How is talking about baseball gonna make a soccer team better? NO PASSION is what I see it as.... And now I' m pissed so I'm not gonna even waste my time proof-reading or spell chcking this - deal with it.

My BUTT doesn't fit into the bucket.

I saw this can lying around in some alley and did what most normal people would do. I tried to put my BUTT into it. It didn't fit, is my butt too big? Is this can too small? Is the can for butts for children, midgets, or small animals? I couldn't figure it out.

What does this have to do with soccer? I'm glad you asked. If you notice the position I am in, you'll see that my thighs are parallel with the ground while my upper torso and shins are all vertical. My back is being supported by the wall, but if you try to maintain this position for an extended period of time you will feel the burn. It makes your legs stronger. Making you a better athlete is the great game of soccer.

No seriously I just was feeling giddy when I saw this can and the first thing I thought of was "Butts" and when I'm giddy I'm silly so I told my friend to take the picture so I could make someone laugh. Now if you’re laughing at the Butts can and my butt hovering over it - cool. If you’re laughing at me because I'm just silly, crazy, insane, stupid, a moron, etc, etc. then that's cool too. I just like to make people laugh.

Travelers (1) vs Attack Rabbits (5)

July 25th, 2007 - Cromwell High School, Cromwell, CT

There's a reason they call them selves Attack Rabbits, and there's a reason they are in first. They do not stop running. We knew that all the other teams know it, but yet we just didn't play well enough to make a game of it. Their 5 goals were literally from 5 of our mistakes. We had other mistakes that they didn't take advantage of as well. And when they held the ball and built up an attack we were right there with them. All season I said that little mistakes add up. Yesterday it added up too 5 for them, and 1 for us.

We had their goalie in a panic a few times and their defenders had to clear the ball from the line twice to save him. Alex had a nice shot that I thought he missed because he blasted through the net. Brian if you had blocked that shot with your hands and the ref gave you a red I would have dropped kick him - lol OK maybe not. The long 14 game, 14 week season is finally over. And we ended it on a wicked bad note.

Record:
5 - Win
6 - Lose
3 - Tie

Goals:
1 - Alex Kushnir

Goals to date:
7 - Patrick Nevins (2 pk)
4 - Marco DeMarco
3 - Derek Cedar
2 - Brian Zehnder (1 pk)
2 - Gordon Hines (1 pk)
2 - Kalee Moore
2 - Tim Carlson
2 - Alex Kushnir
1 - Mark Devito
1 - Jared Krechko

The playoffs.......season 2, we will concentrate, we will play to our potential, we will be a force to recon with, we will get into the semi-finals. Remember the good times from the 5 games we won, or the 2 games we had to battle back from a deficient to get even. Remember how it felt good to win and know that we were a better team than that of our opponent. Remember that those little bruises don't hurt as bad after a win, they actually feel good. But don't forget the mistakes, the bad choices, the losses, the squandered leads. Remember how those same little bruises hurt a little more than they should after a loss. Remember that we could have done this or done that to have played better personally and as a team. Remember those missed goals that replay in your nightmares at night. Remember all the good, all the bad, and the ugly too. Let it all build up and explode in the playoffs. No more joking around, no more taking criticism personally - it's the playoffs and these are the games that count. The 14 regular season games were practice.

Record:
0 - Win
0 - Lose
0 - Tie

Goals:
None

Goals to date:
Everyone is tied at a BIG FAT ZERO

Travelers (1) vs Pratt Eagle (0)

July 18th, 2007 - LP Wilson, Windsor, CT

After losing our last 3 games out of 4 we faced the first place team in the league. And we held our own in the 1st half. They had their chances but none to serious. The game was mostly in our half of the field. The refs sucked as usually but I think it was them that fired us up for the 2nd half.

The 4 defenders (and Rick in goal) gave a great performance for another shutout. Will, John, Brian, & Jared literally shut down any offensive attacks that they tried to create. I remember one time in the 2nd half where they took a shot. All the other times they took a shot it wasn't anything to hold your breath too. In the first half although we played most of the game in our half they won a few corner kicks and took a few long distance off target shots. That was it.

Our lone goal was when Patrick got hacked in the box after a long pass to the corner from me, he was able to out run their 2 defenders for it. He gained control of the ball and held on to it, he waited patiently for the rest of us to get up there so he can cross, pass or shoot, but their defender took him down. The PK that Patrick took went in with ease, their good goalie had no chance.

After the goal I was expecting them to go all out and attack us, but again we stopped everything that they tried and kept applying great pressure on the defenders. We played hard the whole 2nd half and the result was that the majority of the 2nd half was in their half of the field, the ball was at our feet and we made them chase us around a bit. Patrick and Kevin combined to waste about 10 mins just holding on too the ball in deep in their corner of the field. Devito almost had another goal from a well place header that the goalie had to hit out for a corner.

The first half wasn't 100% Pratt Eagle. Basile had a header that he had to fight for with John. It took a lucky bounce that we weren't able to get to which led to a counter attack. They had 3 guys vs our 1. Will was able to slow them down for me, Jared, and John to get back. What should have been a classic counter ending with a good shot on goal ended with our defenders stopping them dead in their tracks.

We still had a few mistakes, but by far the least of the whole season. If we play like that the rest of the way we'll be playing deep into August for hardware.

Record:
5 - Win
5 - Lose
3 - Tie

Goals:
1 - Patrick Nevins (1 pk)

Goals to date:
7 - Patrick Nevins (2 pk)
4 - Marco DeMarco
3 - Derek Cedar
2 - Brian Zehnder (1 pk)
2 - Gordon Hines (1 pk)
2 - Kalee Moore
2 - Tim Carlson
1 - Alex Kushnir
1 - Mark Devito
1 - Jared Krechko

Travelers (2) vs EASC II (5)

July 11th, 2007 - LP Wilson, Windsor, CT

If only we can score on all our possessions. We took the opening kickoff and we passed to the open man until I was given a beautiful ball to volley in from about 25 yards out. Their goalie had no chance of saving it. Then we relaxed a bit, they applied a lot of pressure and little by little they found what works, they dumped the ball into the corners and they chased it and with 2 subs (1 after Derek got hurt) they wore us down. They score 3 easy goals in the first half. Yeah we all played on Monday and probably still not 100% recovered. And yeah it was another hot & humid day for soccer. But there's no excuse for standing around watching when you could at least walk towards the ball when it's passed to you. GO TO THE BALL. Crisp passes, how many times did we try to make a pass that just was weak or off target? Play simple like the kickoff. We didn't make a pass longer than 10 yards and we moved the ball up the field and had a shot ON GOAL and we scored. Defense wins the ball and they pass to the midfield NOT long ball over the top to the forwards. If it's there then yes by all means make that long ball pass. But if that's all we do it's not gonna work.

Half time speech. Was I not clear in saying that we're losing 3-1 why not take some chances on offense? We needed to attack and attack. But some players were walking up field. Even when someone yelled "Get Out" the ball got returned to their player and they were on-sides. If you GET OUT then they would be off-sides. We finally attacked and what happened? We scored? Jared had a nice shot from about 20 yards out. So we scored 2 goals. Mine from about 25 and Jared from about 20. So why not take more shots? Test their keeper. Anyway the score was 4-2 and we kept attacking and had a few good chances. We should have done that the first 15 mins of the 2nd half not the last 15 mins. When you take your chances on offensive the defense becomes weaker, and they scored their 5th goal. I believe it was one of the classic GET OUT and someone didn't.

Well I guess we're learning a lot of things this year but when are we going to start using the experience from these games? Crisp simple passes, shots ON GOAL, get out leaving them offside, attack when we have the ball, make runs, etc. etc. etc.

Record:
4 - Win
5 - Lose
3 - Tie

Goals:
1 - Marco DeMarco
1 - Jared Krechko

Goals to date:
6 - Patrick Nevins (1 pk)
4 - Marco DeMarco
3 - Derek Cedar
2 - Brian Zehnder (1 pk)
2 - Gordon Hines (1 pk)
2 - Kalee Moore
2 - Tim Carlson
1 - Alex Kushnir
1 - Mark Devito
1 - Jared Krechko

Travelers (2) vs Cracker Barrel Cafe (1)

July 9th, 2007 - SportsWorld, South Windsor, CT

Last time we played these guys they came back to tie us. We knew we should have beaten them and we walked away with only 1 point. Last night we knew we could beat them but with the heat and 3 subs it was gonna be difficult. They got an early goal from the PK Spot. Will got lucky he could have been sent off but the ref decided to give him only a yellow - see if you play nice with the ref he'll be nice back. Big field, lots of running, we played better and created more chances, but we just couldn't finish, or was it that Cedar couldn't stay onsides?

Halftime relief, Patrick showed up and with his fresh legs, an extra sub we created more chances, and Patrick actually created both goals. The first his free kick off the cross bar that Cedar headed in. Sounds nice and graceful, but Cedar tackled the post for that goal. The 2nd was a through ball for Ron. I thought it was for me. I took a touch or two before slipping it past the keeper for the win.

Their fast players caused us some problems. They missed a few shots and we caught up to them a few times too. Tony comes up big a few times. But the play of the game, and player of the game was RON. Not only did I take the through ball away from him he was all over the place. There was one time where he won the ball from their player deep in our side. He had no one to pass to; no one went to help him. So instead of kicking it out he figured out a way to get it up the field. And when he passed the ball and that player lost it he would win it back. He did this 2 maybe 3 times until finally we had a good chance on goal. Maybe he use to the heat and can run a lot but his determination, his hustle on that play is what I want to see out of all 11 players on the field at every moment of their playing time. Our last 3 games (before the playoffs) are vs the 3 of the top 4 teams in the league. We don't need to win to make the playoffs but we better play our best soccer and prepare ourselves for a run to the title.

Record:
4 - Win
4 - Lose
3 - Tie

Goals:
1 - Derek Cedar
1 - Marco DeMarco

Goals to date:
6 - Patrick Nevins (1 pk)
3 - Derek Cedar
3 - Marco DeMarco
2 - Brian Zehnder (1 pk)
2 - Gordon Hines (1 pk)
2 - Kalee Moore
2 - Tim Carlson
1 - Alex Kushnir
1 - Mark Devito

Travelers (2) vs Volvo Aero (3)

June 27th, 2007 - Falcon Field, New Britain, CT

The first half we played GREAT, we scored 2 goals, we created some other chances, we stopped them from doing anything dangerous, we passed, we got open, it was beautiful. WHY can't we play like that all the time?

The first half was seriously great soccer, we worked the ball and everyone was involved in the offensive play. Defensively we were getting back and shutting them down. Someone (who's name I can't mention because he doesn't like it) played a great 1st half at stopper, and Will at sweeper played his best all season too. Midfielders were getting wide and spreading the field. On defense they were getting back and picking up the over-lapping players. The strikers were getting some quality chances and applying pressure to their defense. Patrick broke through from a great touch by Cedar 1-0. Then Tim's volley made it 2-0. We survived the first half. NO we dominated the first half.

My half time speech sucked or demoralized us or something because in the 2nd half we started out way below par, compared to the first half. And we got worse as the half played out. They kept running, they kept their intensity UP, and we didn't. We tried to sit on a 2-0 lead. And with every won ball, with every shot on goal, with every minute they gained momentum and we lost composure, confidence, intensity, and the game ended ugly. Not only did we lose 3-2. We lost our cool. The ref's sucked AGAIN, what a surprise? I've been in this league longer than anyone (except Rick) And these refs, yes all refs not only the two from last night - SUCK. Once anyone starts to give them $#!T they will start calling all those little things against that player and eventually that team. Same goes for the fouls vs us, the other team will start to get away with more and more the longer we yell and complain at the ref. I can't stress enough that I hate refs more than anything in this world. I wish they were extinct. No seriously, I wish we didn't need them. I don't want them, I HATE them. We need to play the game without letting them get to us. When I say we lost our cool, before, I meant that we started yelling at the refs, then the other players and eventually each-other. I don't care if you yell at the refs, but remember in this league with these refs it will come back to haunt you. The other players didn't understand what you were yelling at them anyway, and then of course our own teammates. We need to be a team and if we're yelling at each other it's gonna be a long 2nd half of the season and all the people that are worried about who's gonna be here or not for the playoffs can stop worrying because we're on the path of MISSING the playoffs.

The last 2 games we were WINNING the game but ended up with a tie, and with a lost. We had 6 points and walked away with only 1. We were in 5th place in a very tight group from 3rd - 7th. Luckily we are still in 5th place but way out of 1st or 2nd. The 3rd and 4th place teams are starting to pull away from us, and now the 8th and 9th place teams are in striking distance.

Record:
3 - Win
3 - Lose
3 - Tie

Goals:
1 - Patrick Nevins
1 - Tim Carlson

Goals to date:
6 - Patrick Nevins (1 pk)
2 - Brian Zehnder (1 pk)
2 - Gordon Hines (1 pk)
2 - Kalee Moore
2 - Marco DeMarco
2 - Derek Cedar
2 - Tim Carlson
1 - Alex Kushnir

Gold Cup Final - US and A (2), Mexico (1)

Since this game was played in Chicago at Soldier Field, I was able to witness this game live. The game was completely sold out and by my estimations it had to be at least 90% pro-Mexico. Believe or not, Chicago has the biggest Mexican population outside of LA and Texas. The atmosphere was pretty electric since this is quite a rivalry. As for the game it was a tale of 2 halves. The first half belonged to Mexico and the second half was won by the United States.

On to the game, the United States started out slow with Mexico looking to attack at full force. Mexico created many more opportunities in the first half than the US. One criticism I have of new US and A coach Bob Bradley is that he misuses Landon Donovan. Donovan looked so out of place at midfield it wasn't even funny. But with the plethora of attacking options Bradley was trying to make something work. He has Ching, Twellman, Dempsey, Donovan to choose from. The problem with those choices is that they're all very inconsistent. They all show flashes of brilliance but never do it day in and day out. Anyways, Donovan was out of place and it caused a lack of opportunities for USA. Just a minute before half time a Mexican player beat Oguchi down the right side, sent a wonderful pass across the middle of the goal, and No 18 on Mexico punched it in. I don't remember his name but I know he played one hell of a good game. Usually, giving up a goal before half time is a back breaker but Coach Bradly made some good adjustments at half time. Something that was very lacking during the Bruce Arena era.

The second half starts and US has made a substitution replacing Mastroeni with Clark. I had never seen Clark play or heard of him before but he impressed me. The game changed with him in the midfield. He was quick and aggressive and made good plays. Playing behind, the US became the aggressors and were attacking. Finally, in the 62nd minute they capitalized. Ching received a through ball in the penalty area and was taken down by a Mexican defender. Through the protestation of the Mexican players the US and A were rewarded a penalty kick. Golden boy Donovan lined up to take it. He's famous for going down the middle. I for sure thought he was going to miss but alas he makes it, tucking a nice shot into the lower right hand corner. Its now tied 1-1.

Instead of sitting on the tie, USA keeps playing an exciting attacking style. The come to fruition about 10 minutes after their first goal. The US wins a corner kick. I think it was Donovan who sends an out swinging ball towards goal, a Mexican defender heads it up and it falls to the feet of Fielhaber, who volleys it in midair into the upper right corner. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLL!!! Es un golaso!!!! First of all, who's Benny Feilhaber?!?!? Where did this kid come from? Never heard of him before yesterday's game. Second of all, that took the breath out of the crowd but that didn't stop them from throwing 7 dollar beers in air. I smelled like a brewery walking out of that game. Now is USA's chance to sit on the lead but that didn't happen either. It was back and forth attacking from both sides, though most of US's attacking came from the counter attack. Ching made a brilliant move or moves after receiving a through ball in the box, faked out the defender, made the goalie commit, did everything as he should and he hit the post. It was oh so close. He deserved that goal. Then comes a complete embarrassment of a play. Mexico is in an all out attack, the ball gets cleared to a wide open Donovan who is sprinting toward goal with no one in front of him but the goalie. Beasley decides to join so it is now 2 on none with just the goalie to beat. Donovan makes the goalkeeper commit and slides a pass over to Beasley who has a wide open goal in front of him and he MISSES!!! I couldn't believe it. He whacks it off his shin over the goal. He had to try to miss the goal was that open. Unbelievable. Fortunately it didn't come back to bite them in the ass. The game ends 2-1 in favor of the USA.

Overall the quality of play was pretty sloppy on both sides. These are both national teams and I expected much more out of them. I guess I am so spoiled by watching and following Italian soccer that I expect teams to play like professionals, not amateurs. On a positive note, the USA won and still has Mexico's number stateside. Even though it was sloppy, it was still entertaining.

On a side note, I hate when a small group of fans ruins the experience for everyone else. I know it doesn't compare to the hooligans in Europe but we had some idiots in our section that decided to throw beers, soda, etc down on the people sitting in front of them (which would have been us). I was wearing a USA tshirt and there were a couple USA jerseys in our section so I'm not sure if they were aiming at us or just being stupid but this kind of stuff is uncalled for. When I talked to some Mexican fans outside, they were very gracious and even agreed that its only a game. No need for the stupidity. They congratulated the USA and said they deserved the win and went on their way. I wish everyone else acted the same.

Travelers (2) vs Cracker Barrel Cafe (2)

June 20th, 2007 - LP Wilson, Windsor, CT
I kept saying that these guys would be tough, and they were. With 10 men they came back to tie it twice. With a 1-0 defecit they scored to tie it, with a 2-1 defecit they scored to tie it. We gave them both of their goals, but give them some credit with 10 men they ran the whole game. We need to do a better job spreading the field, which allows us more space to work, which makes those 10 men (no subs) run more and get tired.

Our first goal was a great pass from Jared to a STREAKING Cedar. Cedar, having been stopped on a previous break-away decided to play it safe and layed it off for Carlson who tapped it in. It was a sweet pass, sweet run, sweet lay off, sweet finish, - That's team soccer, when we're not greedy for the glory of a goal but content in knowing that we were involved in the creation of the goal. 1-0

Mistakes. As I mentioned we gave them both their goals. The whole game we were trying to dribble in our defensive third of the field and losing the ball. GET RID OF IT. Their first goal Kevin received the ball and turned into 3 of them. 2 mistakes here. 1st - Why pass to a guy that has 3 defenders on him? 2nd - Why not communicate and tell him NOT to turn? Needless to say they won the ball and took a shot that Buffon couldn't have saved. Upper far corner. 1-1

The second right before the halfway mark was under dispute by the other team. Their player was hopping around and then started to walk/run again. We played on and took a great shot that wasn't properly handled by the goalie; Alex was in a great spot to clean up. I'll take goals like that all day long. I did have a goal like that last week. In a 4-0 game and caught a little slack for it, but in today's 2-2 game it made a difference.

The 2nd half we started strong, but the mistakes were still there. Alex had another great chance on goal, set up again by Jared's throw in. Alex decided to be pretty and chip the goalie - it was close but he missed - UGLY. I consider that a great chance to score but not to capitalize or not making them save it is a mistake on our part. This goes for you too MARKs, the ball in front of the goal and you take your time or take a touch to set yourself up for a better shot. Are you kidding? Toe-poke it, slide, use your ass. True story - John Monticello was lined up to head the ball in off a corner kick, but it was deflected by a defender at the last moment, it went towards his ass so he stuck it out and flexed his booty to re-direct the ball into the net.

More mistakes. With a 2-1 lead and the game winding down, maybe 20 mins left we were still on the attack. We left our defense weak and they scored on a counter-attack. THEY HAD THE WIND - We need to play smarter. I wanted a third goal as much as anyone out there but we need to play smarter. Well their lone attacker was fast and beat Tony and the defender to a through ball and he slipped it in. Tony I thought you were gonna tackle the guy. 2-2

I've been saying this all season. Mistakes will get us vs good teams. We should have won this game and walked away with 3 points. Instead the mistakes we made cost us 2 points. Doesn't seem like much but those mistakes, those points, it adds up, not to mention the moral of a game where we should have won, and we end up tying, or maybe losing. I mentioned the defensive mistakes, what else are mistakes that add up? Well when we're attacking and we earn a corner kick and then we kick it out of bounds instead of in a dangerous place to create a chance on goal - that's a mistake. We had 2 corner kicks that we hit the outside netting of the goal. And that's WITH THE WIND in our favor (keeping the ball from going out of bounds) that's bad guys, I know maybe we were tired both physically and mentally but to kick the ball out of bounds like that it's poor. It happened on free kicks too. A couple of goal kicks, and free kicks in our half. That's a turn over, an unforced turn over.

Well I'm an optimistic and I have to say I had fun, I hope you all had fun; I think the guys who stayed to team bond after the game had fun too. We could have lost, we could have gotten injured so instead let's LEARN and GAIN experience from this game. Think about what you did that was good, think about what you did that was bad. And think about John's ASS.


Record:
3 - Win
2 - Lose
3 - Tie


Goals:
1 - Tim Carlson
1 - Alex Kushnir


Goals to date:
5 - Patrick Nevins (1 pk)
2 - Brian Zehnder (1 pk)
2 - Gordon Hines (1 pk)
2 - Kalee Moore
2 - Marco DeMarco
2 - Derek Cedar
1 - Tim Carlson
1 - Alex Kushnir

United States (2) - Panama (1) - Gold Cup Quarterfinals 2007

I was very pleased to see that the US advanced vs a decent Panama team. BUT, if the US wants to be a world power and compete for the World Cup in 3 years they better do a lot better. Panama is a decent team, for CONACAF, but when you add all the decent teams from Europe & South America Panama drops out of being decent and becomes, how do I put this nicely? Garbage. Yes they have some good players that can hang with the big boys but this is a TEAM sport and the team of Panama isn't going anywhere. USA on the other hand has the money and means to invest into their players to be a world power. BUT they are still not there yet. Come 2010 they still won't be there.

I hope they can repeat their effort from 2002 where they were a ref's call away from tying the game vs Germany in the quarter finals. True the German defender did not handle the bal on purpose but it still saved a goal. Or in other words gave an advantage, a huge one at that to the Germans. Germany hung out to the 1-0 lead and went to the Semi-Finals.

If the US wants to do that again (Quarter Finals) in 2010 they better get some more experience. The best way to get experience is by winning the games you should win. Yes getting your ass handed to you once in a while is fine but you need to go that when you play great teams or when you’re experimenting. I believe that the US mentality is let's do what it takes to win, When it should be Let's do what it takes to get better. I think that the US will struggle vs Canada on Thursday, unless they play up to their potential and not down to their opponent’s level. With a 2-0 lead you need to protect that. The play where Panama scored reminded me of 8 year olds. 3 guys went to the ball and it bounced around like a pinball before it got out of the mess of 6 American legs to the feet of the Panama attacker who fired, no seriously, fired a rocket off the inner post of the goal which rebounded like 30 yards back. Smart, or should I say experienced players, there were 3 defenders, would have been able to handle the pressure of one attacker and not got in each others way.

One mistake is all it takes. Back in 2002 when they were playing great, one mistake (the German defender's hand ball) is all it takes to change a game. So when they US make these minor stupid mistakes vs. a decent team like Panama imagine the other mistakes that they (Panama) didn't take advantage of. Bottom line, I love USA, I want them to succeed, so the rest of the world can hate us for another reason. But if they keep playing like this the rest of the world will continue to make fun of our president and our soccer.

Travelers (4) vs HO Penn/HS United (0)

June 13th, 2007 - LP Wilson, Windsor, CT

OUR 1st shutout of the season goes to RICK! Well deserved since he's the most capped player on the team, have been serving the Travelers Soccer team for more than 15 years. Not to take anything away from Rick, his most dangerous shots were our pass backs. That goes to show you how much we have grown into a better team. The first time we met this team we held on for a 3-2 win.

If you noticed in the first half they were kicking and chasing, and they barely got past half field. In the second half, once they calmed down and started passing they actually held possession in our half a little. I hope we can all realize that we do that too. When we kick and run we can't create scoring chances. When we pass and posses the ball we create chances. Like my first goal of the season! I CRUSHED it in, just kidding. Seriously, what was beautiful about my goal, certainly not the shot, was we had the kick off and held possession, at least 8 guys were involved with passing it around and through their defense. They never had a chance to touch the ball. It was finally crossed into the middle for me to neatly and strategically place it in the far corner with enough velocity that the goalie couldn't get to it. TRUE they started with only 8 players to our 11 but the point is we passed and played keep away with them, we controlled the game for the whole 1st half, even after their other players showed up to even it out at 11-a-side.

It was great to get one right before the half time whistle too. Me again! But this time it was one of those garbage goals. A shot from Kalee that the goalie bobbled and I was there to clean up. That's what we need to do though is take advantage of the other teams mistakes. What if it was a playoff game and we won 1-0 with a garbage goal - who cares we scored we advance end of story. In a game like this it's tough to keep composure because everyone wants to score a goal, but as I mentioned with my first goal, and the majority of the game the whole team touched the ball, we held on to it and then who scores doesn't really matter, this is a team effort and game. Like when LT ran for 28 TD in 2006, he didn't do it alone, he used his fullback to lead the way and of course his offensive linemen.

The second half was a lot like the 1st, we controlled and they didn't. They did play a little better but we kept our form and created more chances. Patrick slipped one by the keeper, and missed a few others too. We set up some good chances, their goalie made some good saves too. Derek had some effect in the last goal. If he actually touched it in, I don't think so, but without his hustle and determination their goalie and/or defender would have been able to clear the ball out of danger. We started to have fun in the 2nd half too, you could hear the oohs and aahs from the bench.

I haven't kept track of how many games we get fans to come and join in on the fun, but I promised Nolan I'd give his dog a shout out. What up Trixi! The first thing it did when it got there was pee on the new uniforms. That's why they were all wet and I told everyone that they were damp from me washing them - LOL

Record:
3 - Win
2 - Lose
2 - Tie

Goals:
2 - Marco DeMarco
1 - Patrick Nevins
1 - Derek Cedar

Goals to date:
5 - Patrick Nevins (1 pk)
2 - Brian Zehnder (1 pk)
2 - Gordon Hines (1 pk)
2 - Kalee Moore
2 - Marco DeMarco
2 - Derek Cedar

Travelers (3) vs ABB II (2)

June 6th, 2007 - LP Wilson, Windsor, CT

I've been preaching about getting off to a good fast start and we finally did - up 3-0 at the half with good goals by Kalee, & both of Patrick's. Gordon, the new interim coach, missed the 3rd one, Red Stripe is the reason to blame, and is convinced we are all lying to him. Even though this post isn't official, he'll have to trust us until the website with the standings is updated.

The wind in our favor helped big time. I didn't realize it until we were facing it in the 2nd half. Our 3rd goal was from Tony's punt. Speaking of Tony he had some great saves, like 4 of them all in one play and we were all in awe. So much so that we didn't clear the ball and ABB finally slipped it past him, for their 1st goal. Things like that will haunt us in close games. Their 2nd goal came from more poor defensive work when we couldn't move the ball and ABB took it away and brought it down to score. CRAP we're only up 3-2 and there's 20 minutes left. They better not come back to tie use like we did to Harvey.

There were a few times when we made mistakes and left Tony alone, or left out defenders out-numbered, but we had great games from all of the defenders - those 2 goals against doesn't mean nothing it could have been a lot more. This ABB team didn't give up and worked hard. Midfield had a little trouble getting the ball out of our half when we were against the wind. I hate this saying but "When in doubt kick it out" - out being upfield, unless your in the defensive 3rd then just kick it away from them out-of-bounds if you have too.

With the wind dying out in the last 10 mins, their players and momentum soon followed. It feels good to pick up 3 points and get back to .500 - our next 3 games are vs the 3 last place teams. We MUST WIN those games to get us into a spot to make a push for 1 of the top 3 spots in the playoffs. Anything less will be unacceptable.

In other team related news... Rick took out a throw back uniform (circa 1990) for the game last night... Gordon, out for the season, was inspired by the fiddler at the Half Door and has decided to take up the hobby for himself. Basically Gordon has become the concession & entertainment for our small but growing fan base. Eddie, keep getting those interns to the games, trade in your jeep for a bus, more of them will fit... Andy & Timmy are neck & neck for the "Jimmy of the Year" award... Coach K "It was a win and I’ll take it." Nicely put.

Record:
2 - Win
2 - Lose
2 - Tie

Goals:
2 - Patrick Nevins
1 - Kalee Moore

Goals to date:
4 - Patrick Nevins (1 pk)
2 - Brian Zehnder (1 pk)
2 - Gordon Hines (1 pk)
2 - Kalee Moore
1 - Derek Cedar

Travelers (3) vs Harvey Surveying (3) - part II

May 30th, 2007 - Abbe Road, East Windsor, CT

The Good: Well at least we didn't lose. We were losing 3-0 and a lot of people thought we were gonna run out of time and Harvey was gonna walk away with the win, leaving us near the bottom of the standings. But we didn't give up in a rough, tough and physical match.

The Bad: We didn't win either. We spot them 2 goals in the first half, and then start the 2nd one off slow and let them get another. We NEED to play the full 90 mins. We need to forget the ref and play our game. I can go on and on, but hopefully we've learned our lesson. Leave the refs alone. Play 90 mins.

The Ugly: The cut on Derek's left eye. Gordon's right knee. Their fouls in the penalty area, and ours, and all the ones the ref missed. Like I said it was a physical game and I'm happy to have got at least 1 point from them after the 3 goals we gave up. Before the game I seriously thought we'd win. Maybe we were over confident.

After their big guy got the red card you saw how that their offensive was in MUD. They did nothing. They rely on him way too much. Derek (or any other volunteer) get sucker punched in the 1st half when we play them again. Mentally I think we knew we had a man advantage and we stopped KICKING it forward and actually built up an attack and created quality scoring chances. We don't need to be a man up to do that!

For some strange reason the schedule says we need to play these guys again! I hope we REMEMBER that in both of the games this year when we stop their big forward they are a different team and easier to attack on. NEW GUYS - this is the team that beat us in a PK shootout in last year's playoffs. So we've tied them in the last 3 games we've played, ALL of which we have come back from 2 goals down.

I was talking to my dad this morning and I told him about our situation. Slow Start, Strong Finish. He said it's a classic case of our team having more endurance than the other. Or in our case a deeper bench. How do we get past the slow start? Get to the game early and warm up. If you haven't broken a sweat you're not warmed up. RUN RUN RUN, we have the players, they don't let's run harder in the 1st half and avoid the opposing teams early goals. I can't stress this enough.

As always all feedback comments are welcome.

Record:
1 - Win
2 - Lose
2 - Tie

Goals:
2 - Patrick Nevins (1 pk)
1 - Gordon Hines (pk)

Goals to date:
2 - Brian Zehnder (1 pk)
2 - Gordon Hines (1 pk)
2 - Patrick Nevins (1 pk)
1 - Derek Cedar
1 - Kalee Moore

Soccer Tennis

This Memorial Day weekend I spent on Block Island, I am fortunate to have great friends to spend the weekend with. If it was up too me, or if I was filthy rich to pay off all my friends, I'd spend Memorial Day weekend and the rest of the summer all the way to Labor Day weekend there. We drink, fish, laugh, play, swim, hike, SCUBA, bike, joke, off-road, etc.. It's becoming a tradition dating back to the late 1900's. Real late, like 1990's. I hope that some day when we are old, grey and bald we are still going to Block Island for Memorial Day Weekend. Or even better when we retire (young) we can stay there for the whole summer.

Usually we get into some intense Croquet matches. We send people down the hill, become poison, and just smack balls around. I have no idea if we are playing by the official Croquet rules, but I do know we are playing by the Block Island rules and that's fine by me. A friend of mine, Dan, even went to Croquet camp to get better - JK. Another year we had a great Ultimate Frisbee game. That was a little too physical after a weekend of drinking. So we stick to Croquet. This year we set up the Croquet court but we broke out into a Soccer-Tennis match! Go Figure. My brother and I are really the only Soccer players of the bunch, so we couldn't be teammates. So he got Dan, and I got Nick. They are athletes in their own right. They both grew up playing mainly basketball, and remain active in that and other sports. They held their own, but their juggling style was a lot like Hacky-Sack. Anyway we had 8 fun matches. We used the benches from the picnic table as the net and our sandals as out-of-bounds markers. To my surprise Dan & Nick loved the game and the others who were watching actually like it too. Kevin actually ref’ed one of the games - it was controversial since he was taking sides with whom ever got him beer, and complimented him the most. The house we stayed at sits on top of a hill, so our soccer ball (size 4) was constantly going down the hill. We took turns sprinting down there and back up. The non spiriting players drank beer, and complimented Kevin. In the hot sun, and all the spriting the beer was very refreshing. The only thing that was missing were ring girls (to announce the score and stuff like that), ball girls (to fetch the ball down the hill), and waitresses (to fetch the beer). Well wives and girlfriends were present but they were too busy cleaning and cooking. I mean reading and gossiping. It was an awesome afternoon, I was happy to show stereotypical American athletes how simple and fun soccer can be. We played by my brother's (Lou) rules. He coaches a u-12 girls premier team and uses soccer-tennis to improve their soccer skills. The official rules of the ASTO are posted on their site - http://www.soccertennis.org/. But like I said we didn't use a tennis court or anything fancy, we used a picnic table bench and sandals. It was a laid back, stress free, and Nick and I still owe Lou and Dan a drink for losing.

We're going back to Block Island again in August for a whole week. Hopefully we'll play more Soccer Tennis. Maybe I can introduce my friends to Brazilian style Volleyball. That's Soccer-Volleyball for those who don't know. And if my dreams and wishes come true, there'll be girls with thongs playing with us - lol.

Champions League Final

AC Milan - 2
Liverpool - 1

AC Milan exacted revenge over Liverpool's stunning comeback from the 2005 Champion's League Final. And they did it in a most uneventful manner. This recap is coming from my memory so some of the facts might be a little distorted. Liverpool completely outplayed Milan in the first half. Milan looked lackadaisical out there. Liverpool completely controlled the midfield, taking Milan's superstar Kaka completely out of the game. Milan's left back, Jankulovski, was in no man's land for most of the first half and Milan was lucky he didn't cost them a goal. Liverpool kept coming down their right side and playing balls to the middle. Kuyt and Gerrard had some good opportunities on goal but failed to capitalize.

Liverpool's manager, Rafa Benitez, made sure Kaka wasn't going to beat them. He had Xebi Alonso and Javier Mascherano trailing him closely. But just before the first half was about to end, Alonso made a lazy tackle on Kaka just outside the 18, right in front of the goal. Milan's dead ball specialist Andrea Pirlo lined up to take the free kick. Liverpool's keeper lined up the wall. Pirlo takes the kick and drives the ball low and hard towards the right side of goal. But wait!! That little pest Inzaghi breaks off the wall and deflects the shot and it goes into the goal. The keeper had already commited to the post and the ball trickled through his toes into the middle of the goal. Milan is up 1-0!!!

Note: There's no way in hell that goal should have counted. The Referree and Linesman were sleeping on this one. (And this is coming from an Italian fan). The ball clearly deflected off of Inzaghi's shoulder/arm.

The second half played out the same way as the first except with Milan holding a lead, they started out even more conservatively, if that's even possible. So much so, that I dozed off a couple times. I did wake up for the good part of the 2nd half which was at the 75 minute mark. Milan controlled the ball and kept it away from Liverpool with some brilliant passing. They kept the counterattack alive long enough for Kaka to get a ball in the middle. Kaka waited for the defense to commit and slipped a beautiful through ball to a perfectly timed run by Inzaghi. It was one on one with the keeper and Inzaghi made a textbook move toward the outside of goal and slipped the ball under the keeper's dive. 82nd minute, 2-0 Milan!! Milan looks like a sure thing to win, but uh oh, in the 89th minute Liverpool gets a deflected header in off a corner kick to cut the deficit in half. Will we be reliving the 2005 final?? Sorry Liverpool fans but Milan holds on for the win. Just as Milan outplayed Liverpool for most of the 2005 final and lost, Liverpool outplayed Milan for most of the 2007 final and lost. I give credit to Milan for being mentally focused and sticking to Ancelotti's gameplan.

I do not give credit to Liverpool's gameplan. This is were Rafa Benitez made his tactical errors. He started Zenden at less than 100% and stayed with him for a good chunk of the 2nd half when everyone could tell he wasn't playing well. Down 1-0 he also waited way too long to bring in Mr Roboto, Peter Crouch.

All in all, it was a well-played tactical match with not very much excitement. I'm happy that an Italian team won. Looking forward to some Euro 2008 qualifying matches.

Travelers (0) vs Volvo Aero (5)

May 23rd, 2007 - Falcon Field, New Britain, CT

Yes you read the score right, we got crushed. They had 2 full lineups, while we had 2 subs. So what do they do? RUN RUN RUN, we aren't in shape to run like they did. Their overlapping on the weak side KILLED us. They were good at switching the point of attack and taking advantage of their over lapping player. Granted we are still out of sync, We're Travelers aren't we supposed to be in-sync. We had bad touches and passes which made them look that much better. We had players playing out of their normal positions, that didn't help much. But all-in-all I think we can walk-away from this game and take a very valuable lesson. We need more players, we are a team, we can't do it alone. Even with 11 we need subs, we're not professionals who train all day so we're not in shape. You must know your role, granted we were short players and we had offensive players playing defense and vice-versa, but when we are at full strength, don't sub in for a defender if your not a defender.

Anyway we had some good moments like Andrew (Holl) great BALL trap, ouch! Poor guy took one square in his jewels and as he's on the ground the ball gets passed at him. So he gets up to play it and basically get's run over by the defender - that was funny, just stay down. Your boys are more important than the ball esp. since it was already 5-0 at that time and probably less than 15 mins to go. Well it was 4-0 at half and we played a lot better in the 2nd half. We eliminated a lot of mistakes, (but still made some) and we ran with them when they tried to over lap. Offensively we created some chances, Zehnder made their goalie reach for a save that was good for a corner kick. We will meet this team again at the end of June - let's remember this defeat for that game, and for all the next games as we need to win a few to stay above .500 This year there's 10 teams in the league, which means 2 are NOT going to the playoffs. Let's not be one of them. Before the season started I thought anything short of the semi's would be a failure. I still believe that.

As always all feedback comments are welcome.

Record:
1 - Win
2 - Lose
1 - Tie

Goals to date:
2 - Brian Zehnder (1 pk)
1 - Gordon Hines
1 - Derek Cedar
1 - Kalee Moore

Travelers (2) vs Harvey Surveying (2) - part I

May 21st, 2007 - Abbe Road, East Windsor, CT

We started off slow, we started off with no subs, we started off with me playing with cargo shorts! WE STARTED OFF bad. After we settled down and played half way decent it was already 2-0 HARVEY! That big guy had both of their goals. New guys don't know this but the old guys should have learned by now, you stop him you stop this team. The first 15/25 mins of this game was horrible. They were on an all out attack to take advantage of us having no subs and it worked. They created chances, we barely had the ball in their half. Once the subs showed up it was like we settled down and relaxed. Granted people we have work, traffic, Whirly Ball, and god knows what else to deal with, but if we want to be a good team we need to plan ahead and get there early. This game is 90 mins - ask Milan in 2005 what 6 minutes did to their Champions League final in Turkey vs Liverpool. Anyway.. The rest of the 1st half.....

We started passing, rather than just kicking it forward. We took shots. I thought we were gonna get one back before the half. It would have been real nice. At half time I said a few things, other added to it. Basically it was spread the field, it's a big field use it to our advantage. If we spread the field our skill our speed doesn't have to be perfect. In other words the more room you give yourself between you and the defender the more room for a bad touch you have. the more time you have to react to a bad pass. Until we are in perfect form the more room you give your self on offensive will make a difference. Opposite on Defense, we can't give them room to receive, settle, turn, look, pass, shoot etc. We need to be on them before the ball is even passed to them.

2nd half...We did those things, we created a lot of chances on goal, and we even scored twice. Both goals were scored by applying pressure on their defense and we got the rebound on one goal, and took advantage of one of their mistakes on the other. But the build up and the attack on all the other chances came from basic passing to the open man, NOT just kick the ball up. We create chances had about 8 corner kicks, 2 cross bars, a break away. Defensively we shut that guy down (for the most part) Tony had a few sweet saves. A few too many in my opinion. I like it when our goalie is bored.

As always all feedback comments are welcome.

Record:
1 - Win
1 - Lose
1 - Tie

Currently 7th out of 10 in the standings, but we have a make up game. Check out the site for more information. http://eteamz.active.com/hiisl/index.cfm

Goals:
1 - Derek Cedar
1 - Kalee Moore

Goals to date:
2 - Brian Zehnder (1 pk)
1 - Gordon Hines
1 - Derek Cedar
1 - Kalee Moore

Soccer is great...

..it can inspire people to feel young again.

A striptease by 72-year-old actress Sofia Loren could be one of the more outrageous ways that Napoli fans will celebrate if the team is promoted to the Italian top flight this season. Loren, a movie sex siren from the 1950s and 1960s, is a big fan of the Naples club who have fallen on hard times since winning their first Italian championship 20 years ago. "I hope that Napoli win these last few games. You watch if we go up I will do a striptease," she told Gazzetta dello Sport in an interview Tuesday. "The fans have a total passion, the city deserves promotion." By buddy then also reminded me that she's the hottest 72 year old. What I would give to be in Naples when they, I mean, should they get promoted to Serie A. I don't want to jinx them. Not because I want to see Sofia Loren strip, because I want to party with all the twenty something girls that will do more than just strip.

..it can be played by anyone

This guy is having so much fun playing soccer. If he was playing football he'd be a lineman, forget hockey. Do you think he has any vertical leap for basketball? I'm sure he could play other sports but he's definitely having the best time playing Soccer.

..It can be played anywhere

Beach soccer is great because there are girls in bikini's there! You can go to any spot on this earth and play soccer. Do you think you can go to a remote place and find a basketball hoop? I don't think so. I'd love to see a Jamaican Ice Hockey team in the Olympics. And then the coach, for the movie, could be played by Adam Sandler.

..It can be used to explain science and things from out of this world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11

http://history.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/images11.html

The links are there for your reference not soccer related but this image is ALL soccer.... It's what the astronauts did once they landed on the moon. The soccer field is UNIVERSAL and used to compare the area that they covered while on the moon. I think they (NASA) did it because they are all rocket scientist and know that Soccer is awesome. Plus intelligent life from outer space play Soccer. FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) just announced that they are joining FUFA (Fédération Universe de Football Association) and sending ITALY (current World Champions) to represent Earth FC in the Universe Cup.

..Sex, porn, and hot chicks!

Is there such a thing as a Baseball Mom or Basketball Mom? Or any other sport Mom? Nope, because they are ugly. But there are a few porn sites all about Soccer Moms, because they are all HOT! I'm not gonna give you links to them because I don't know them. I also know that Soccer Chicks are hot! WAG's (Wife's and Girlfriends) are always HOT. Do you think that the female Aliens will be hot? Imagine at the Universal Cup all those hot aliens! OK that was a little wired let's just stick to humans like Heather Mills. Yeah she's HOT.

http://www.heathermitts.com/gallery_model.htm

So I gave you a bunch of reasons why soccer is great, I hope you all agree and convert from your other sports. I almost forgot to let out a huge secret. The S in ESPN stands for Soccer (Entertainment and Soccer Programming Network). Same with the S in Adidas (All Day I Dream About Soccer)

Travelers (3) vs HO Penn/HS United (2)

May 9th, 2007 - LP Wilson, Windsor, CT

Well at least we won.... 1st half we scored 2 goals, by applying a little pressure to their defense. Both goals were created by simple passing that easily beat the defenders. The first goal (PK) was well converted by Brian Zehnder. The 2nd was a great run by Gordon Hines set up by Andrew Thompson. Their lone goal in the 1st half was our defensive disaster. After they served the ball into the box from the corner kick we did a poor job clearing it. I don't care if we give up another corner but that ball HAS TO GET OUT of the middle where it can bounce around and go in. Tony Lombardi - you’re the boss back there - you have to yell and yell and yell at them. I don't care if you hurt their feelings but the defense has to know that that ball has to GET OUT.

The 2nd half in my opinion was our better half. We controlled the game and the ball a lot more than they did. We were clearly the better team in the 2nd half. We created more opportunities, made better decisions with the ball, but their goalie came up big a few times. The post got in our way and one guy even cleared the ball away off the line from Mark Basile's great header. Brian Zehnder took the lead in the team's scoring with his second goal of the game and of the season. It was a blast from about 20 yards into the far corner. The one bad thing from the 2nd half was the way they scored their goal. They took the ball and passed and ran right by half our team. We fell asleep for 1 minute and they took advantage. We must be on top of our games for the full 90 minutes. It ain't over till it's over. It ain't over till the fat lady sings. etc. etc.

We won! We got 3 points! We still need practice since a lot of our touches were off. I will send out an invite for next week's practice and game. All comments are appreciated both negative and positive.

Goals:
2 - Brian Zehnder (1 pk)
1 - Gordon Hines

UEFA Cup

All Spanish Affair....
RCD Espanyol (ESP) vs Sevilla FC (ESP)
May 16th - Glasgow, Scotland
Can Sevilla win a 2nd striaght UEFA Cup? Or will Espanyol take it this year? They met in Sevilla on April 29th with Sevilla winning it 3-1, but that was only a Primera Division game - this time it's for the UEFA Cup! I think that Sevilla will win but it will be a closer game than that 3-1 match last month.

Will Espanyol's attackers Walter Pandiani (11) & Luis García (6) find the goal to surprise Sevilla? Maybe once or twice but not enough to win.

Champions League Final

REMATCH!
AC Milan (ITA) vs Liverpool FC (ENG)
May 23rd - Athens, Greece
The last time they met in a Champions League final was 2005 - Milan was winning 3-0 at the half, Liverpool came back to tie it and eventually win it all from the PK spot. Some regard it as one of the best games ever. This time with Maldini, Costacurta, & Cafu all close to retiring (hopefully to the MLS) I think Milan comes away with the victory.

Did you know that Spanish teams have won the Champions League Finals a record 11 times? Whos' 2nd? There's a tie (10) between Italy and England - So who ever wins it all this year (Milan) will also bring their country's total to 11 and tie Spain for the most Champion League trophies.

Champions League & UEFA Cup Quarter FInals

Champions League
Milan (ITA) – Bayern (GER) 04/03 on ESPN - I think, feel, and hope that Milan will advance. Especially since their Serie A season is pretty much over, well they can't win the Scudetto, they are playing for 2nd place and a Champions League birth, but they can get that by being defending champions.
PSV (HOL) – Liverpool (ENG) 04/03 - Liverpool is done in the Premiership, PSV is trying to hold on in Holland, the focuses of the teams are opposite, Liverpool wants Champions League, while PSV is still focusing on the Dutch league

Roma (ITA) - Man. United (ENG) 04/04 on ESPN - Man U is better suited, but I would sure love to see the Wolves advance though.
Chelsea (ENG) – Valencia (SPA) 04/04 - This is the GAME to watch - I feel who ever wins this game wins the Champions League this year. If I have to pick a winner I'm gonna go with Valencia (maybe because they knocked out UNDEFEATED Inter!)

UEFA Cup
Espanyol (SPA) - Benfica (POR) 04/05 - Benfica will advance if they can keep this game at Espanyol close. If Espanyol runs away with it Benfica CAN NOT and WILL NOT be able to cover in the 2nd leg.
Leverkusen (GER) - Osasuna (SPA) 04/05 - Leverkusen is itching to be an elite team again, here's their chance.
Sevilla (SPA) - Tottenham (ENG) 04/05 - Sevilla can win the whole thing, Tottenham is gonna play them very tough though.
AZ (HOL) - Bremen (GER) 04/05 - Bremen can win the whole thing too, but they still have to get by AZ first, which they will.