Another weekend has passed us by and another weekend of the of young MLS season is in the books. Of the most notable stories were Kei Kamara’s goal in the closing minutes against FC Dallas to preserve Sporting KC’s perfect start to the season. The result leaves KC and Seattle in a group of their own as the only teams who have kept their perfect seasons in tact. Chicago and Vancouver round out the rest of the undefeated teams, although both the latter have a tie. Nonetheless, being in a group of only four undefeated teams is definitely an accomplishment for each respective team.
In Europe, an action packed week saw some interesting shifts at the top of league tables. In England, Manchester City followed up a fantastic mid-week win against Chelsea by slipping up somewhat at Stoke City with a 1-1 draw. The result saw City retake the top spot in England on goal differential. Both Manchester clubs are locked on 70 points, however United, who was not in action this weekend, has a game in hand on City. Elsewhere in England, Arsenal continued its strong run of form by beating Aston Villa 3-0 at home to move into third place. City rivals Tottenham meanwhile struggled midweek at home against Stoke and needed a stoppage time goal from Rafael Van Der Vaart to secure a draw, and then got a decent result at Stamford Bridge on the weekend, drawing Chelsea 0-0. The weekend results leave Tottenham in the fourth place, three points adrift Arsenal and five points ahead of fifth place Chelsea and Newcastle, who are both level on 50 points.
In Spain, Real Madrid picked up a convincing 5-1 victory against Real Sociedad to restore their drive to the La Liga crown. Barcelona took advantage of two previous draws by Madrid to cut the gap at the top to six points. While Madrid is still certainly the front runner for the title, games including away to Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, as well as home against Valencia, Sevilla and Mallorca cast some doubt over what will happen in the nine remaining games.
In Italy, AC Milan continued on their quest to repeat as Serie A champions with a difficult 2-1 win against Roma. The points came with a consequence though, as defender Thiago Silva suffered a thigh injury that is said is keep him out of action for about a month. Silva, a center back for Milan, is an essential part of their defensive unit and will certainly be missed in the weeks he is out. Most notably he will be absent for the Champions League clash against Barcelona next week, however Silva will also be missed in the coming weeks as Milan continue to pursue the Serie A title. Elsewhere, Juventus kept the pressure on by securing a solid 2-0 victory over Inter Milan. The result left Juventus, who have still yet to lose a Serie A game this season, four points behind Milan with nine games to play. Certainly this gap is close enough to close, but time will tell if Milan will slip up at all. It is seemingly a two horse race for the title with third place Lazio twelve points behind leaders Milan.
While these were the major story lines from the weekend, feel free to comment with your thoughts and anything that may have been left out.
(image courtesy of AFP Photo)
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