Galaxy still alive

At my office we are doing a small pot on the League Cup. Eight of us drew a random team of the eight left in the quarterfinals and in the end the winner get the pot if your draw wins the tournament. Happy to say that I am still in the competition as I drew LA Galaxy, who defeated the current Mexican champions of Toluca 2-1, with the new signing Marco Reus scoring his first goal for the Californians. 

It was all in all a dreadful day for the Mexican sides, who were all eliminated. I watched Inter Miami eliminate Tigres of UANL 2-1. Luis Suarez´s scored both Miami goals on penalty kicks, both called for handball. I personally think they were both very weak calls, specially the second penalty, which came at the end of the match when Tigres were dominating following Angel Correa´s equaliser for the Monterrey side. Not that it was undeserved that Miami won; they had a good first half, but with Tigres´strong second half the match could have gone to either side, and it is a pity it is decided on a penalty kick that should not have been given as it was not a danger situation and the ball hit the player´s arm in a random situation. But in VAR times any handball is defensible, no matter the intention or situation. 

I guess now to support LA Galaxy, who will face Seattle Sounders!

The injury domino

Many of the world's top players have had a very long season. And after a long season, now comes the world's foremost tournament. Many are still trying to get past injuries. Some are already ruled out due to injuries, while other have suffered the horrible fate of getting injured during the warm up to the tournament. Here is some of the domino of world Cup injuries:

• Germany: Marco Reus was injured in last week's friendly against Armenia. A loss for Reus, and a huge loss Germany.
• France has lost their best player, Frank Ribery. Although France has been good lately, this would seem to hamper their possibilities. That said, many teams have before done well without their super-star...
• Colombia will miss their star striker, Radamel Falcao. However, I do not believe this will matter that much, as Colombia already has good striking power. Colombia's weakness will be elsewhere.
• Netherlands: they have more men down, with Rafael Van der Vaart, Gregory van der Wiel and Kevin Strootman all out. Still a strong side, but not as complete as they could be.
• Portugal has brought Cristiano Ronaldo and Pepe to Brazil, but both remain doubtful. I would be surprised if they do not force them on the pitch anyway. Portugal's success depends on Ronaldo.
• Uruguay: Luis Suarez has been doubtful, and recently underwent an operation, and he is apparently ready.
• Belgium: Cristian Benteke was injured before the tournament, and Belgium will have to rely mainly on Lukaku and Hazard.
• Spain: Diego Costa has been doubtful, but seems to be ready. Thiago Alcantara is their main loss, but are otherwise at full strength.
• Italy's Ricardo Montolivo fractured his leg in a friendly against Ireland. The curse of the friendlies, where players are dead scared to get injured...
• Russia's Roman Shirokov is out, and this will surely weaken the Russian midfield.
• Mexico's Luis Montes was one of the new players brought in by Luis Herrera when the North Americans almost missed qualification for the World Cup. A broken leg in a friendly against Ecuador has also left him out of the tournament.
• England's big loss is Theo Walcott

The Dortmund comeback

Fantastic comeback by Borussia Dortmund in the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinal against Malaga. In the 82nd minute Eliseu brought Malaga ahead 2-1 and it seemed the Germans were out. But in the 91st minute Marco Reus equalized, and one minute later Dortmund brought euphoria to Dortmund scoring the winner that puts the Germans in the semifinal.
Do not mind that Santana was off-side; Eliseu was clearly off-side when he scored for Malaga, so a neutral observer could say that it was a deserved compensation for Dortmund, who were the better side in a fantastic match.
Malaga have been a great surprise in the tournament, but it is great to see Borussia Dortmund in the semifinal, and I sure would love to see them go all the way against the arrogant giants that are certain to be the other semifinalists.