Subscribe: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
It’s been another good week for Barcelona and in particular their Argentinian star Leo Messi, my team Tottenham also had a good 7 days as they made it to the FA Cup semi-final. However, it has been a bad week for Celtic and Sevilla as they fired their managers for poor league performances. These stories and more feature in this week’s the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, which can be heard on our weekly podcast. Vocabulary support can be found for the words in bold at the foot of the post.
The Good
Barcelona continue their impressive run of form with another victory to keep them in the race at the top of La Liga. This time they destroyed Zaragoza, or more accurately, Leo Messi destroyed them. He scored yet another hat-trick – his third of the season – to notch his 33rd goal of the campaign and all three goals were beauties.
Good for Mexican sides in the CONCACAF Champions League, as it will be an all Mexican affair in the semi finals after Pumas overturned a 2-0 first leg deficit by hammering Honduran Apertura champions, CD Marathón 6-1 in the return leg with striker, Ismael Ãñiguez, finding the goal twice in the first half. The side from Mexico city will take on cross-town rivals, Cruz Azul over two legs in one of the semis, while Pachuca meet Toluca in the other: the games will be played later this month on the 30th and 31st and in April on the 6th and 7th.
The Bad
Bad for West Ham, the club from the Eastend of London, as they slump to another defeat – their fifth in a row. This time they were beaten by fellow strugglers Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-1 at home. And despite the new owners, Sullivan and Gold, promising to support him, and the fact that everyone seems to love him, Gianfranco Zola’s job must be on the line. With only seven games to go for the Hammers he needs results fast. Next up is the west midlands side, Stoke City, in a crunch match that may go a long way in deciding the Italian manager’s fate and whether or not the London club will be playing in the Premier League next season.
Well, though Zola’s job is under threat then at least he still has one unlike Tony Mowbray who was fired by Celtic this week after a disastrous 4-0 defeat at St Mirren. Celtic lie 10 points behind arch-rivals Rangers and have performed poorly throughout the season both domestically and in Europe. Mowbray was well regarded in the game for his style of attacking play but it seemed that he had lost control of the dressing room and was forced out after only nine months at the helm of the famous Glasgow club.
The Ugly
Violence was simmering throughout the week in the football world as we move towards the end of the season. The managers of Manchester City and Everton, Roberto Mancini and David Moyes , squared up to each other after Mancini had bundled into Moyes in trying to recover the ball during their defeat to the Toffees last Wednesday. Mancini has since been charged but this was nowhere near as bad as when Brazilian police had to storm onto the pitch in a third division encounter after one of the home player’s refused to leave the pitch after receiving a red card. The police used pepper spray to clear the pitch and the games abandoned. Ugly scenes indeed.
Vocabulary
to notch: To score (add to his total)
all (Mexican) affair: used to indicate that only Mexican clubs will be competing/playing
cross-town rivals: a team from the same city or town: other examples include Arsenal and Tottenham in England and Boca Juniors and River Plate in Buenos Aires
slump: suffer a defeat, have a dip in form
crunch match (game/fixture): very important, vital
lost control of the dressing room: The players have lost respect for the manager
at the helm of : To be in charge of
was simmering: Bubbling; a lot of tension
squared up to each othe: Became angry at each other; about to start fighting (but not quite); posturing
the Toffees: Nickname of Everton FC
