ay toward qualifying.The Saudis appeared i from corse178's blog
BARCELONA, Spain -- As long as Andres Iniesta and Gerard Pique get healthy again, Barcelona fans should have nothing to worry about. Cheap Orlando Magic Jerseys.The 3-1 loss at Manchester City on Tuesday showed that for all the scoring prowess of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez, Barcelonas star forwards can be left with heads hanging when the teams makeshift defense and midfield buckle under pressure.And pressure is what former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola ordered City to apply in massive doses, especially in a second half when they broke the steely control the Spanish champions normally maintain even against the biggest opponents.Barcelona was missing the injured Iniesta, Pique and first-choice left back Jordi Alba. For Barcelonas faithful, that means one bad match shouldnt be a cause of major concern just because three of Barcelonas backups didnt perform as well as its undisputed starters.Just look at the result of their first meeting two weeks ago, when Messi scored a hat trick in a 4-0 rout. All three started that match, even though Pique and Alba had to be substituted because of injury.But the loss at City does point out where coach Luis Enrique needs to work with the teams younger players and newcomers. That, or perhaps relent on the clubs now ingrained -- and ingrained it was by Guardiola -- insistence on using short passes to work the ball forward even when under intense pressure from opposing defenses.We played 40 excellent minutes with many scoring chances and just in that moment we make a key mistake, Luis Enrique said. We had five bad minutes and in the second half we accumulated an infinite number of passing errors. (The loss) was the result of our rivals pressure and our mistakes.Sometimes a game does seem to swing on one single pass.Messi had put Barcelona on its way to another victory with a goal from a counterattack led by Neymar. Later, Neymar and Suarez both went close to adding more goals.But a pass from Sergi Roberto that went astray was pounced on by City forward Sergio Aguero, sparking an elegant series of one-touch passes that were reminiscent of Guardiolas best Barcelona sides. The play was completed by Ilkay Gundogan for the equalizer in the 39th minute.It was all City the rest of the way, with Kevin de Bruyne knocking in a free kick before Gundogan finished off another quick buildup.Guardiola knows Barcelona better than any rival, and it showed. City made goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen pass short by covering his down-field options, and then swarmed in numbers.Barcelona won the possession battle with 60 percent of the ball and basically doubled Citys passes (591 attempts to Citys 315). But most of the action was inside its own half, when every sideways pass was another chance City had to spring its trap. Guardiolas willingness to renounce the ball worked: City produced 13 shots to Barcelonas eight.Guardiola said he asked De Bruyne to specifically attack Roberto, who had his worst match after a promising start to the season in his new position of right back.We wanted to go one-on-one against Sergi Roberto, Guardiola said. In the second half we were more compact, pressured higher up the pitch and moved in unison. If we had had better finishing we could have put the game away earlier.Offseason signings Lucas Digne and Andre Gomes didnt have good showings in place of Alba and Iniesta, either. Digne provided none of Albas pace and struggled to keep up with Raheem Sterling, while Gomes hit the crossbar with a clear chance to make it 2-2.The biggest victim of the night, surprisingly, was Sergio Busquets. The Spain holding midfielder, usually so unflappable, relinquished several balls. He was missing his outlets to Iniesta and Pique, who often starts Barcelonas attacks from the back.We knew it would be a difficult match and that the team that pressured better and recovered more balls would be the one that won, Busquets said. During the season there are matches like this one.According to Aguero, who is a friend of Messi and teammate on the Argentina national side, the Barcelona leader understandably did not leave Etihad Stadium pleased.Whenever you lose youre not happy, Aguero said about Messi. Leo wasnt in the mood and I respect that.Iniesta will be sidelined for another month with ligament damage in his right knee. A right ankle sprain will keep Pique out for another week, while Alba is expected back soon from a muscle pull.Once they recover, Barcelona should be its old dominant self.In the meantime, though, Barcelona faces a tough match at Sevilla in the Spanish league on Sunday. Sevilla coach Jorge Sampaoli surely will have taken note of the flaws that City exploited and try to do likewise. Cheap NBA Jerseys .Y. -- Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone has drawn on his Syracuse connections once again by hiring Rob Moore to take over as receivers coach. Cheap Magic Jerseys . The incident occurred at 19:56 of the second period of the Kings 4-2 road win over Edmonton on Sunday. Nolan punched Oilers forward Jesse Joensuu in the jaw in front of the Kings goal during a scrum. http://www.cheapmagicjerseys.com/ . McPhee said that Ovechkins father Mikhail is in stable condition after having the surgery this week and is no longer in intensive care. "Weve told him to stay as long as necessary with your dad," he said. Ovechkin and his Russian national team were eliminated from the mens hockey tournament in Sochi on Wednesday with a 3-1 quarter-final loss to Finland. SEOUL, South Korea -- For all the focus on the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, theres a much more immediate concern for football supporters in the wealthy gulf nation when it comes to the sports marquee event.Having lost its first two games in the final round of the Asian qualification series for the 2018 World Cup, Qatar desperately needs a win over South Korea on Thursday to boost its chances of qualifying for Russia. To achieve that, the Qataris must stop Son Heung-min, one of the hottest players in the game at the moment.Son arrived in Seoul on Monday after scoring five goals so far this season for Tottenham -- four in the Premier League and one at CKSA Moscow in the Champions League. The attacker, who has also recorded two assists, has been nominated for the Premier Leagues official player of the month award for September.I feel good, Son said, dismissing local concerns that he may be tired after helping his London team to second spot in the Premier League standings. I will be fine on the match day. There is no big difference from the last season, but its true that my fitness is better than the last season.In Asian qualifying, only the countries placing first and second in each of the six-team groups will qualify automatically for Russia 2018. The South Koreans and Qatar are in Group A along with Iran, Uzbekistan, Syria and China.South Korea, aiming to appear at a ninth successive World Cup, has four points from two games but was disappointed with a 1-1 draw against Syria on Sep. 6. There is pressure to defeat Qatar, particularly with a tough trip to Iran five days later.We dropped two points against Syria and we are now thinking only of Qatar, Son said. People think we should be able to score a lot against the opponents like Qatar at home. But they are also a good team and its difficult to win matches like this.Another defeat would leave Qatar, one of the best performing nations in the previous round of Asian qualification and still aiming for a first World Cup appearance, stranded at the bottom of the group.After losses to Iran and Uzbekistan, the Qatar federation fired Jose Daniel Carrero and appointed his fellow Uruguayan Jorge Fossati for his second spell in charge. The pressure is immediately on Fossati.China is also aiming for a first win in thiis stage, with just one point from two games ahead of its home match against Syria in Xian. Cheap Magic Jerseys China. Group leader Uzbekistan has a perfect record with six points and hosts Iran in Tashkent.Iran coach Carlos Queiroz wants his team to set a new benchmark in this campaign.History shows that despite boasting great players, coaches and presidents, Iran has never qualified for the World Cup finals twice in a row, said Queiroz, a well-traveled coach who guided Iran to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. My job, my goal, my mission and my dream is to make this happen.The top two teams from Group B meet when Saudi Arabia hosts Australia in Jeddah. Both teams have six points from the opening two games. The Socceroos are back in west Asia after an impressive 1-0 win in United Arab Emirates in the previous round of games and determined to qualify for a fourth consecutive World Cup.We wont take a backward step, Australia coach Ange Postecoglou said. Its another game that if we can perform well and win, two wins from two away games -- we know how hard that is to do in qualifying -- itll put us a long way toward qualifying.The Saudis appeared in four consecutive World Cups from 1994 to 2006 and turned to former Netherlands boss Bert Van Marwijk to help them qualify for 2018. The team has struggled to two wins, defeating Thailand 1-0 and Iraq 2-1, courtesy of late penalties.I think theyre going to be pretty desperate, Postecoglou predicted. I expect them to defend and try to at least get a point out of it because if they do theyre in great shape for the games ahead.Japan hosts Iraq and is aiming to close the gap on the top two in the group. The Samurai Blue recovered from an opening game defeat at home to the UAE by beating Thailand 2-0 in Bangkok. Thailand now travels to Abu Dhabi to meet the UAE.Japans biggest stars such as Keisuke Honda and Shinji Kagawa have spent much of the season so far on the bench with respective teams AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund.We have two games coming up and I want to show what I can do, Kagawa said. There is a strong perception that not playing regularly is negative, so we have to prove ourselves in the game. Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys China NFL Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '
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