Matches to Watch This Weekend: El Clasico

Pique and Marcelo fighting for the ball in last season's Clasico

What bigger match is there right now than El Clasico? While the Milan derby was interesting, El Clasico is where the best of the best face each other. While it's not technically "this weekend" (El Clasico is taking place on Monday this season), it's still going to be probably the biggest club match of this season. But it's not all about La Liga this weekend, there's a massive match in the English Premier League between the Champions League qualified Tottenham Hotspur, and a resurgent Liverpool. In Serie A, Ibrahimovic and his magic will strike fear into a Sampdoria team which relies on Giampaolo Pazzini to score goals. So here are three matches that I recommend you watch over the weekend!

The unstoppable Lionel Messi

Barcelona - Real Madrid

Who isn't interested in seeing the two best footballers of our generation, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, go head to head, supported by their magnificently talented teammates? El Clasico is probably the biggest club match which will take place in a long time, and it looks like one of the most even match-ups too. With Jose Mourinho and his tricky ways on one side, and Josep Guardiola's beautiful football on the other, it's almost impossible to predict the result. Although it's not my prediction, the Spanish prime minister, Luis Rodriguez Zapatero predicts a 4-2 win for Barcelona. Make sure to tune in to this match on Monday!

Tottenham Hotspur - Liverpool

Tottenham have been playing wonderfully this season, and having just qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League, the team will be looking to defeat Liverpool at home this weekend. Liverpool on the other hand have been blowing hot and cold, the team hasa played fantastically at home, but whenever they travel away, it's a different story. So at first it seems like a Tottenham win, but the team could be tired after having just played in the Champions League, and Roy Hodgson's well drilled Liverpool team will be able to take advantage of this. While I predict a tight 2-1 win for Tottenham, I think that Liverpool will cause problems for Spurs, but not enough to end their fantastic form which has been a constant this season.

Sampdoria  - AC Milan

Sampdoria have been without their star forward Antonio Cassano for some time now, and it looks like the team is beginning to adjust. Last weekend it was Giampaolo Pazzini who took Cassano's place scoring a hat-trick to help his side defeat Lecce 3-2, away from home. But Sampdoria are still relatively shaky, and an in-form Zlatan Ibrahimovic could tear their defence to shreds. AC Milan qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League in the midweek, and the week before they defeated Fiorentina, both games had fantastic goals by Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The big Swede seems unstoppable right now, so I certainly expect AC Milan to score, we'll just have to see how many. I expect a 3-1 win for AC Milan, with Ibrahimovic and Ronaldinho sharing the goals.

I hope you've enjoyed this little weekend preview, and in case you don't know, Soccer Wrap Up now has a Youtube channel! The videos will mostly be about soccer cleats, whether it be looking at ones which I already have, or previewing cleats which are coming out in the future. Here's a video of ours below, previewing Adidas's 2011 cleats. Enjoy!

Eto'o goes Zidane on Chievo Player

From this weekend's action, there were many things to take in. While Tottenham's 3-2 comeback away against Arsenal was epic and surprising, what was even more surprising to me was Eto'o's Zidane-esque head-butt against Chievo defender Cesar.

What surprised me first is that Cesar is Slovenian, and what surprised me secondly was the fact that Eto'o lost his cool and decided to head-butt him. Eto'o's always been a fantastic player, while at Barcelona he was a little arrogant, I never thought that the Camerun had this side to him. And some will certainly point out that this headbutt is a metaphor for the tension and general unhappiness in the Inter team.

Why the unhappiness? Well, Inter lost the match 2-1 to Chievo, and this loss is just one from a bad streak which is endangering Benitez's job. It's Inter's second loss in a row, and out of a possible twelve points, the side has only taken two. The injury list is expansive: Diego Milito, Maicon, Samuel, Thiago Motta, Chivu, Julio Cesar, Mariga, and Coutinho. And all of them are key players, or players which would've been replacements for the key players.

So what do we have to learn from Eto'o's head-butt? That while the team is devastated by injuries, playing badly, and getting terrible results, losing your cool and head-butting an opponent will only make the situation worse. Mainly because after the FIGC reviews the incident, the forward will most likely receive at least a two game ban, hindering Benitez further.

So with the coach's job hanging by a thread, players either injured or losing their cool, what's the president, Massimo Moratti thinking? For sure Benitez will get until the midweek Champions League match against Twente, but what if the Spaniard were to lose again to the Dutch side? Share your comments regarding the situation below!

Here's the head-butt below:



That's something I'd expect someone like Gattuso, Joey Barton, or Ibrahimovic to do. And regarding Ibrahimovic, the big Swede scored a fantastic goal over the weekend. A ball crossed into the box, with his back to goal Zibra juggles, and then bicycle kicks it into the back of the net. His fantastic goal was the only one of AC Milan's 1-0 win over Fiorentina.

I've decided to post the goal below, mainly cause it's something that only Zibra could do:


Something else which caught my eye was Mallorca's 2-1 win away against Sevilla. For any side, travelling away to Sevilla is no easy task, and when Mallorca went a goal up, the travelling fans went wild. But it was not to be, and in the 88th minute, a wonderful ping-pong passing move was finished by Luis Fabiano, giving the home support an epic equalizer to relish. Rarely do you see such fantastic last-minute equalizers, and what's even more fantastic is when a team manages to score a last-minute winner. Mallorca did just that, with Webo nodding in a free kick, and earning his side three important points, away from home against Sevilla.

In La Liga we also saw Real Madrid spank Athletic Bilbao 5-1, with Ronaldo scoring a hat-trick. But what I find interesting from the match is that the man who scored Bilbao's goal was Fernando Llorente. And Llorente has been closely tracked by Mourinho and Real Madrid as a possible January transfer target. Maybe now after seeing the boy score against them, they'll decide to invest in him, and get rid of Benzema who isn't playing his best right now. We'll just have to wait and see in January.

Another hat-trick in La Liga was scored by Lionel Messi in Barcelona's 8-0 win over Almeria. Yes, you read that right, Barca won 8-0 away from home! But these matches are nothing compared to what's coming next weekend, El Clasico will take place in the Camp Nou. Sadly the match is taking place on a Monday, and I (like many others) most likely won't be able to see it.

I missed almost all the Premier League action, and I'm sorry for leaving it out this week. Next week I'll be sure to write a bit more about the state of English football right now. Please comment below regarding any of the weekend's action!

Nike Bomba Finale Preview

NIKE BOMBA FINALE REVIEW IS POSTED, READ IT HERE

As all the weekend action is taking place, I've ordered a pair of Nike Bomba Finale turf shoes, and I'll be reviewing them when they arrive. In case you're interested, I've ordered them from Kitbag, it's the first time I try them out, and so far they've been excellent!

While I've never had or used a pair of turf shoes, considering that my team will be practicing on turf for the rest of the season, and we often play on the artificial surface, I thought it would be a good idea to invest in some proper footwear!

I'm really looking forward to trying them on, mainly because of their really cool looking features, like the pass pad (inspired by the CTR 360 range), and the shot shield (inspired by the T90 range). The pass pad looks really cool with the hexagonal design which is supposed to allow for a better first touch, by dampening the impact of the ball. The shot shield on the other hand is supposed to help keep your shots low and hard, so that you don't blast the ball into the stands next time you're in front of the goalkeeper.

The upper's main material is the synthetic Kanga-Lite, which mimics Kangaroo leather's soft moulding capabilities while being lighter and waterproof. I'm expecting a great cleat from Nike, and I really can't wait for them to arrive.

If you have any experience with these cleats, or turf cleats, please share your thoughts by commenting below! And what do you think of the cleats? Do you think the pass-pad and the shot shield actually make a difference, or are they just gimmicks? I'll find out in the review which will be up sometime soon!

Here's a video of me unboxing them, they've just arrived, and I'll have the review up in a couple of weeks!

FIFA Puskas Award 2010 Nominees

The legendary Ferenc Puskas

FIFA recently announced the nominees for the FIFA Puskas award, which is basically the best goal of the year award. There are ten nominees, and all ten are fantastic goals! If you're interested in voting, FIFA's voting page is the place to go,

This is how FIFA decides the nomination and awarding process:

"The final list has been drawn up using the following criteria: aesthetics; the importance of the match; the absence of luck or an opposition mistake as a factor making the goal possible; fair play; and the date, with only goals scored between 1 January and 15 October 2010 counting.

You will find every conceivable type of goal in our top ten, from solo efforts and long-range strikes to audacious lobs, unstoppable volleys and gravity-defying scissor-kicks."

The scorers of the goals in competition for the award are Hamit Altintop, Arjen Robben, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Kumi Yokoyama, Linus Hallenius, Samir Nasri, Lionel Messi, Neymar, Siphiwe Tshabalala and Matthew Burrows. I've found all of the goals on Youtube, and you can watch them below.

My favorite is Linus Hallenius's goal, it has technique, grace, and power. Which one do you think is the best? Comment your favorite below! 

Samir Nasri - Arsenal vs. Porto




Lionel Messi - Barcelona vs. Valencia




Linus Hallenius - Syrianska FC vs. Hammarby






Matthew Burrows - Glentoran vs. Portadown




Hamit Altintop - Kazakhstan vs. Turkey




Neymar - Santo Andre vs. Santos




Arjen Robben - Schalke 04 vs. Bayern Munich







Giovanni Van Bronckhorst - Netherlands vs. Uruguay







Siphiwe Tshabalala - South Africa vs. Mexico




Kumi Yokoyama - Korea DPR vs. Japan (womens)