After yesterday's and today's games I came to a few personal conclusions (feel free to disagree)

 * Using the home team advantadge is crucial at this point of the competition.

* But a one goal is still a dangerous result for Fenerbahce and Roma. They will both face strong spanish teams that will play for their crowds. And Sevilla and Real Madrid will need a simple victory by 1 x 0 to move to the next round.

* Schalke has a better change to hold up Porto. The tactical discipline of German football can make the difference

* Liverpool is a little bit more confortable to face Internazionale after scoring twice and not allowing a reaction by the leader of Serie A.

* Real Madrid's inefficiency to create trouble to Roma's defense in the second half proved that Robinho is much more important for the team than Robben right now.

* Vitor Valdes needs to improve his game or soon he'll be getting the boot. How couldn't he save that header in Celtic's second goal?

* Olympique Lyon will have a lot of problems to stop Tevez and Ronaldo in the second leg. Lyon can always count on Bezema and Juninho but if Ronaldo, Tevez and Anderson really play at the top of their games it would be improbable to Man Un to be beaten.

* Experience still goes a long way. Of course I'm talking about AC Milan. They bravely held up a 0 x 0 result against a Arsenal that had at least 2 clear chances to score. Arsenal still has a chance but beating the European (and World) Champions will not be a simple task at all.

* Messi is the pulsating heart of Barcelona now! And Ronaldinho finally woke up! And that's excellent for the spectacle of football!!!

Please add your own points of view!

Kevin Kurani (Schalke 04)

Ernesto Farias (FC Porto)

Raul (Real Madrid)

Mancini (Roma)

Kovacevic (Olimpiacos)

Drogba (Chelsea)

Tevez & Rooney (Manchester United)

Karim Benzema (Lyon)

Materazzi (Iternazionale)

Gerrard (Liverpool)

Kezman (Fenerbahçe)

Dani Alves (sevilla) vs. Alex (Fenerbahçe)

Kaka (AC Milan)

Eduardo (Arsenal)

Barry Robson (Celtic)

Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

I decided to watch Roma vs. Real Madrid simply because both teams have a style of football that pleases me a lot. Even though Madrid played without Robinho I would have the chance to see Robben, Sergio Ramos, Casillas. Raul, Van Nilsterooy and Julio Baptista and on the other side I really like the way Roma plays. Mancini, Totti, Pizzaro, Juan... I knew this would be a great game.
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The first half was not as good as it could be but Robben was the differential. At the 8th minute he started the play that ended with Raul putting the ball inside Doni's net. Real was up by 1 and looked pretty comfortable in the game.

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The problem is that "Los Merengues" miss Robinho very much. Mainly because he is the one able to cause defenses to collapse simply by moving without the ball. And when he has it he is able to take defenders easily and create spaces for Raul and Van Nilsterooy. Without him Real Madrid was not able to transform its first half superiority into goals.

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So that at the minute 24th Pizarro scored Roma's equalizer confirming that if don't score when you have the chance you end up boosting your opponent's morale.

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Pizarro celebrating his goal .

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And then came the second half. Roma came back a different team. Still the same players but with a different spirit. At minute 12 Mancini did what he does best. Coming on the left side in an individual play he shoots and puts the home team on the lead..

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After the goal, Roma became a little bit more cautious and Real Madrid still wasn't able to be really dangerous. Even though the (fanatical) "Diario Marca" states that the result was unfair I honestly didn't think so.

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In football you got to transform superiority into opportunities and those into goals. Real Madrid didn't but Roma did.

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I know 7 teams are missing from the picture (Porto, Olimpiakos, Fenerbahce, Schalke, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United) but I just thought that it was really cool to open my closet and see that I have 9 of the 16 Champions League teams jerseys. Who will take the "Big Ears" trophy this year???

More than 70,000 people watching soccer at a Stadium in the United States (the Super Bowl XLII last Sunday had an attendance of 71,000). That number is already great and it can become even more amazing if we say that the game meant almost nothing. I said ALMOST.

 

It was a friendly match between USA and Mexico. A match that was officially called a friendly but in smaller proportions I’d risk to say that this rivalry could be compared to a Brazil X Argentina.

 

The game was in Houston, Texas. So it was only natural that a big part of the crowd was of Mexican supporters but I saw a lot more USA painted-faces than the usual.

 

The game itself was quite exciting. Typical of a great rivalry. Things heated up after a few rougher plays and 2 goals to each side.

 

Both teams showed weaknesses in their defenses and all the goals happened from crossing balls to the opponent box.

   

Mexico didn’t really impress me. The team showed lack of organization and missed a brain in the midfield to control the pace of the game, distribute the ball and create plays. That used to be Cuauhtémoc Blanco’s role and I didn’t see anybody doing it. The good thing was that Vella proved he’s ready to play for this team. He had a very good first half and left the field under the crowd’s ovation. Gio took his place and besides a few tricks and through balls attempts he didn’t have a lot of time to show more.

   

On the USA side the big deception was Donovan the Diva. A player with talent but who many times disappears in the game, hiding himself from action and not contributing to the team. But on the other hand I’d say goalkeeper Tim Howard is definitely the man for the number 1 jersey and Jozy Altidore is more and more becoming the striker everybody wants to see. Strong, efficient and never giving up a play. He didn’t have a lot of touches on the ball but when he did he bothered the Mexican defense.

  

The 2 x 2 score was fair and it was also a good price for the great crowd that was present at the Reliant Stadium this Wednesday night.

 

And for the “title” of “King of the CONCACAF”. It still belongs to the USA who won the CONCACAF Cup last year. Mexico will have another chance to claim the “title” in the World Cup Qualifying this summer.