Soccer Fan Pro

The season has barely begun, and already there are 5 players from 4 different teams in La Liga who are serious contenders to be named “Pichichi,” or the highest goal-scorer in La Liga.
Though they don’t have the spot in the standings to show it, Valencia’s David Villa is the current leading goal scorer in La Liga. He has scored in 4 consecutive games for Valencia- scoring 2 against Valladolid and Sporting Gijon, and one against Getafe and Atletico Madrid. As I’ve said before, Villa (with his companion David Silva) desperately need to get out of Valencia for a better club.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Cristiano Ronaldo have already set a record at their respective clubs, being the first players to score in every game (so far) of their debut season. Both have provided critical goals for their sides and continue to show that they are clearly worth the investment laid out for them.
Also with 5 goals this season is the always stellar Lionel Messi, although he’s played one less game for Barcelona than everyone else in the running, making his goals a bit more powerful than those of his opponents. He scored two goals during Barcelona’s 5-2 romp against Atletico Madrid.
This is going to make for an interesting season of goal-scoring as the season continues to heat up.

The Champions League group stages recommence tomorrow and Wednesday. Groups E-H play tomorrow, while A-D have games on Wednesday.
Group EFiorentina vs. Liverpool Look for Fernando Torres, hot off his hat-trick on Sunday, to try and secure the 3 points for the Reds. Lyon and Liverpool are at the top of Group E, both securing wins during the first round of group stages. Lyon vs. Debrecen Debrecen will have to work hard to clinch the three points that they need to stay in the running for advancement. French-side Lyon is currently in 2nd place Ligue 1, it’s country’s premier league.
Group FFK Rubin Kazaz vs. Inter Milan After the hype surrounding the Barcelona-Inter CL match-up ended in a disappointing stalemate, Inter will definitely look to gain the maximum amount of points from the rest of their games, especially after the reigning Italian champions were knocked out of their top spot in the Serie A standings by a surprise defeat to Sampdoria. Eto’o is probably looking to live up to the hype surrounding his stellar debut season with Inter. Barcelona vs. Dynamo Kiev With Dymtro Chygynsky injured for up to 3 weeks and Thierry doubtful due to a thigh injury, Barcelona will have to dig deep to defeat Dynamo, the only team in Group F with three points, defeating FK Rubin Kazan last round. Andres Iniesta is a possible starter, which is quite exciting given he has been eased back into games gently after his injury.
Group GRangers vs. Sevilla FC Sevilla is heading the group currently, followed by Rangers and VfB Stuttgart, who tied each other last time. Sevilla is on a role right now, gathering 12 out of 15 points in 5 games in La Liga, while the Rangers are right behind arch rival Celtic in the Scottish Premier League. The game should be well-matched. VfB Stuttgart vs. Unirea Urziceni Unirea is the only team in Group without points, but Stuttgart only has one. Both teams will be vying for maximum points to contend with leader Sevilla.
Group HArsenal vs. Olympiakos Arsenal came back from a quick 2-goal deficit against Standard Liege to win 3-2 in the 81st minute with a goal from Eduardo. Hopefully this game will be a little less nerve-wracking for the Gunners, although Olympiakos is generally a very good team. Both Arsenal and Olympiakos have 3 points in Group H, so this match will determine the leader, except in the case of a tie. AZ Alkmaar vs. Standard Liege Both teams are vying for third place behind whoever loses in the Arsenal-Olympiakos game. Neither received any points in their first group stage game, so this game will set the stage for their final two matches.

Fabio Capello won’t be taking any grief from England’s players before or during the World Cup, according to Stuart Pearce, an assistant coach.

Capello, England’s coach from Italy, already is on record about severely limiting World Cup access to players by “WAGs” — the English acronym for “wives and girlfriends.” WAGs were an ongoing story at the 2006 World Cup, to the detriment of the national side, some believev.

Capello said players and WAGs will be in contact only on the day after World Cup matches, at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Now, Pearce has been quoted as saying Capello will boot from the squad any player found guilty of breaking team rules twice.

This probably is a good idea. The scrutiny of English players is enormous and eternal, with the numerous, competetive and aggressive English media responsible for much of it. But, too, this is a country that invented the game and wonders why it hasn’t won a World Cup since 1966.

Keeping English players focused on tasks at hand would seem to be Job 1, and Capello is acting as if he understands that.

Pearce said that players will be warned after their first breach of the rules, and will be gone after the second.

Still, we have to wonder if, say, top scorer Wayne Rooney, will be treated quite as harshly as a lesser member of the squad.

Perhaps so. If nothing else, England’s romp through qualifying has given Capello so much credibility, so much coaching capital, that he can threaten … and probably even carry out those threats … without great harm to his status.

Perhaps an indication of his current power? Two newspapers issued apologies to Capello for publishing photos of him and his wife taking a mud bath during a vacation in Italy last week. English newspapers generally don’t apologize for anything.

Thus, for now, Capello seems to be setting himself up as the hard man of English soccer. The coach who will not be putting up with even the mildest hijinks from the lads.

DC United goalkeeper Josh Wicks will miss the rest of the 2009 Major League Soccer regular season after dislocating a shoulder and spraining an ankle on the same play in Saturday’s 2-1 loss to the San Jose Earthquakes at RFK Stadium, the team announced Monday.

Wicks came off near the goal line and went airborne to punch away an Earthquakes corner kick, jamming an arm against the ball while it was being simultaneously headed by San Jose player Ryan Johnson. When Wicks fell, he slid on the ground and twisted the knee.

Wicks took over the starting goalkeeping job from Louis Crayton in May and has started the last 17 games. Crayton was eventually released by United.

The injury now leaves rookie Milos Kocic, their 2009 second round SuperDraft pick from Baltimore’s Loyola University, as their top player at the position.

Kocic started two regular season games this May, started four of DC’s six games in the 2009 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup tournament, and started two of four games in the 2009-10 CONCACAF Champions League event.

Since MLS rosters are now frozen for the rest of the season, the only way United could gain another goalkeeper is to select one from the league’s player pool, used in such emergency situations, but United has not said if or when it will do so.

United is 8-7-12 with 36 points in the Eastern Conference standings and may need to run the table and win their final three games of the season to qualify for the playoffs.

United is also competing in Group B play in the CCL and are 2-2-0 with six points, tied for second in the group with Marathon of Honduras.

DC hosts Trinidad & Tobago’s San Juan Jabloteh Wednesday in the fifth of six games of pool play, then ends the round October 20 at Mexico’s Toluca.

The top two teams in each of the CCL’s four groups advance to the knockout phase of the tournament.

The Chicago Red Stars of Women’s Professional Soccer announced Monday they have exercised the contract options for the 2010 season for nine players — defenders Marian Delmy, Ifeoma Doeke, Jill Oakes and Natalie Spliger; midfielders Chioma Igwe, Brittany Klein and Megan Rapinoe; goalkeeper Caroline Jonsson and forward Ella Masur.

Those players join midfielders Karen Carney and Lindsay Tarpley and defender Kate Markgraf on the 2010 roster, as they are all under contract for next season.