Relegation and Champions League: Overseas Roundup

Back a few years ago when the Rapids had less to discuss on a daily or weekly basis I used to have a weekend roundup of the various overseas teams I follow.  With the fall-to-spring seasons ending I thought I'd at least do a season recap of the teams.

Blackburn Rovers (English Championship) - Rovers made the stunning choice of hiring Owen Coyle away from the Houston Dynamo before the season started and he immediately managed them into a relegation fight.  In mid-February after 33 games Blackburn realized its mistake and replaced Coyle with Tony Mowbray.  He led them to the best win percentage of any permanent manager since the Mark Hughes days but it wasn't enough as Rovers were relegated to League One based on a 2 worse goal differential than Nottingham Forest.  This coming season will be the first time Blackburn has been in the 3rd division since the 1979-80 season and only 6th season ever at that level (the other 5 were all in the 1970s).

Queen of the South (Scottish Championship) - The Doonhamers have "found their level" in Scotland, settling in as a mid-table Championship club that occasionally makes a run at the promotion playoffs.  We saw that again this year as a stable "drama-free" season led them to 6th place in the Championship, 9 points off the playoff pace.  The club probably hoped to be a little close to 4th place than they were but with Hibs (Hibernian) going up and Thistle (Inverness Caleadonian) coming down the league should be a bit easier next season.

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim (German Bundesliga) - Hoffenheim had probably the most successful season in their history.  They finished 4th in the Bundesliga, their highest ever finish, and were undefeated at home.  The 4th placed finish got them a spot in next year's Champions League qualifier playoff stage.  The winners at that stage go into the Champions League group stage, the losers go to the Europa League group stage.  They'll know their draw on August 4th with the two-legged playoff series played in mid-August.

Melbourne Victory (Australian A-League) - The Victory finished 2nd in the league this season while hated rivals Sydney FC ran away with the regular season, finishing 17 points ahead of the Victory running in first place wire-to-wire.  Both teams took advantage of their playoff byes to move easily into the final, where Sydney beat the Victory on penalty kicks.  The Victory will play in next year's AFC Champions League after their 2nd placed finish.

CD Tenerife (Spanish Segunda) - I saved Tenerife for last because their season isn't done yet.  Spain takes a longer winter break than most leagues so CDT still has 3 games left and is currently in 4th place in the division, which puts them in a promotion playoff spot.  Levante has already won the league and Girona could clinch the 2nd automatic promotion spot this weekend with the right results.  Tenerife is 4 points behind 3rd and 4 points ahead of 7th (the first non-playoff spot) so really they are looking at holding down 4th unless 3rd placed Getafe trips up.  Then there's a shot at promotion which would mean going through probably Cadiz and likely Getafe.

On my trip to England in March we spent a wonderful day in Chester where I was able to pick up a Chester FC scarf.  So I've been keeping an eye on them as well.  After a good start to the season the team went into free fall and finished just 2 points from the relegation spots in the English National League, the 5th rung of the ladder.

Here's the collection of scarves I had in England after my trips to Chester and Blackburn:

Overseas Season Round-Up

Its a little late due to everything going on, but its time for the season round-up for the clubs overseas that I follow.

Queen of the South: As reported earlier QoS stormed through their season, being the first team in the UK to clinch a championship and the promotion that goes with it.  They also won the Ramsdens Cup over 1st Division Champions Partick Thistle.  Queens received awards galore including Manager of the Year and Team of the Year.   As soon as the offseason hit though, the negative side of their success appeared.  Leading scorer Nicky Clark will not be going up with the team as he was bought by another Second Division team, a little club you might of heard of called Rangers.  Just yesterday manager Allan Johnston agreed to a contract with Kilmarnock of the Premier League.  An impressive move by a guy who has 1 year (admittedly a great year) of managerial experience.  Next year the Doonhamers are back in the First Division after their one year absence.

Blackburn Rovers: A bad season for Rovers after last year's relegation saw them go through 5 managers and barely avoid a second straight drop, finally finishing 17th in the Championship.  Venky's ownership continued to spin the club out of control, leading to as many off-field problems as on-field problems.  Leadership seems to be getting sorted out but the club still has quite a financial crisis which will tie their hands for the coming season.  The bumpy ride isn't over yet.

CD Tenerife: After two seasons in the third division and coming oh-so-close to promotion last year they got over the hump this year.  They won their group by 3 points and then won their promotion playoff 3-2 on aggregate over L'Hospitalet.  Facing Alaves for the Segunda B championship they lost by a two-leg score of 3-2.  Next season its back to their normal stomping grounds of the Spanish Segunda where they'll meet their Canary Island rivals Las Palmas.

Melbourne Victory: The Victory bounced back from a rough season with a 3rd placed finish in the A-League behind Western Sydney and Central Coast, who ran away from the rest of the pack.  3rd place was good enough to get the A-League's AFC Champions League qualifier spot for the 2014 competition.  Much like MLS, the A-League's season is offset from much of the rest of the confederation which leads to a big delay between champions league qualification and actually playing.  In the A-League playoffs the Victory won their first round battle before losing to eventual champions Central Coast in the semis.

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim: This is a new club I've been rooting for, thanks to my sister and brother-in-law visiting that part of Germany a couple of years ago and bringing a scarf back from the club for me.  Hoffenheim was backed in 2000 by one of the founders of SAP, at the time they were playing in the 5th division of German soccer.  Between 2000 and 2008 they earned 4 promotions to end up in the Bundesliga. The club is also the home of 2 young German-born American Nats players, Daniel Williams and Fabian Johnson, and a 3rd American, Joe Gyau, who has played for the U.S. youth national teams.  This year Hoffenheim struggled in the Bundesliga, going through 4 different managers, ending in 16th place and in the relegation playoff.  In the playoff they beat Kaiserslautern 5-2 to keep their place in the Bundesliga for the 2013-14 season.

So, two teams promoted and none relegated, not a bad season.  Next year there's 2 top division teams (Melbourne and Hoffenheim) and 3 second division teams (Queen of the South, Blackburn, and Tenerife).

Relegated

My Overseas Roundup of the teams I follow is coming a bit late this year because I had to wait for the Spanish promotion playoffs to finish today.  Unfortunately its pretty much universally bad news.

Blackburn Rovers - EPL - Finished 19th of 20.  In the biggest failure of the year Blackburn Rovers was relegated out of the EPL.  The same year a 5th team finally joined the ranks of EPL winners Blackburn were relegated for the second time since the founding of the EPL, the only EPL champion ever to be relegated (but when the only other ones before this year were Man U., Arsenal, and Chelsea that's not a huge surprise).  This was Venky's first full season in charge of Rovers and they proved they don't have a clue of what they're doing.  My fear is that this coming season will be the first of many in the Championship.  Unlike last time we were relegated we won't bounce back up the next season.  Let's just hope our plummet stops in the Championship!

Queen of the South - Scottish First Division - Finished 10th of 10.  Money finally caught up to the Doonhamers.  They were barely able to keep the team full-time and had to slash all of their existing contracts to so that.  They put everyone, including the manager, on one-year deals in order to remain financially viable and from an economic perspective it worked, but at the cost of our First Division spot after 10 years.  The club has announced they plan to stay full-time in a bid to move back up to the First Division ASAP.  They turned down investment from an outside company, deciding that they club should remain in the hands of local Dumfries fans.  The club will be moving training back to Dumfries from Glasgow (where its been for the last few years) and are laying new surfaces for the stadium and the practice field this offseason.

CD Tenerife - Spanish Segunda B - Finished 2nd of 20.  The Spanish Segunda B is split into 4 20 team groups with promotion playoffs for the top teams.  Tenerife was unlucky to be draw into the same group as Real Madrid's reserves and not surprisingly the royal backups ran away with the group.  The group winners only have to win one home-and-home playoff series to clinch promotion (which Real Madrid B did) while the 2nd-4th placed teams in each group had to win 3 such series.  Tenerife won the first 2 and went into today's promotion playoff final at home with a 1-0 deficit to Group 2's 2nd placed team, Ponferradina.  Unfortunately despite having the home advantage they lost the game 2-1 and will remain in the Spanish Segunda B for another season.

Melbourne Victory - Australian A-League - Finish 8th of 10.  This was expected to be a rebuilding year for the Victory, and it was.  After hanging around the edge of the playoff spots for the first 2/3rds of the season a series of poor results in the final stages found them dropping to 8th and staying there for the last third of the year.  Melbourne were 8 points out of a playoff spot, missing them for the 3rd time in their 7 year history.  The A-League is going through a lot of financial issues right now so its hard to tell what kind fo season to expect next year.

Rough Overseas Season Ends

Long time readers will remember my Weekend Roundup posts on the 4 overseas teams I follow. This past offseason was very busy for the Rapids so I stopped doing the regular updates, but I figured I'd do an end-of-season Roundup on them.

Queen of the South - Scotland Division One

QoS had a rough year due to the bath weather in Scotland. The team had 11 different matches in December and January postponed due to snow and frozen pitches. They managed just 3 matches in that time period which put a financial hurt on the club that they managed to struggle through, then it put a competitive hurt on the club in the back half of the season as all those games had to be made up. The team managed to make the final of the ALBA Challenge Cup (Cup competition between all DI-DIII teams), which was originally scheduled for November 28th but due to weather and rescheduling didn't get played until April 10th, which Queens lost 2-0. The team finally finished 5th in Division One, a solid finish given their congested schedule.

Blackburn Rovers - English Premier League

Rovers started out well, sitting in mid-table and getting an influx of new cash as the team was sold to the owners of Indian chicken processor Venky's. Fans saw them as the white knight riding in to bring Blackburn to the next level, but they immediately became the villains as they fired manager Sam Allardyce and replaced him with assistant manager Steve Kean in early December. No cognizant explanation was given and after that point Blackburn plunged down the table, highlighted by a 7-1 loss at Old Trafford. Blackburn later had to watch United celebrate their EPL title at Ewood Park after a 1-1 draw in the penultimate game gave the Red Devils the championship but did not assure Rovers of safety. That didn't happen until the final week when Blackburn went to Wolves and took a 3-0 lead in the first half, only to hold off a furious comeback and win 3-2, assuring themselves of another year of top-flight football as they finished 15th.

CD Tenerife - Spanish Segunda Division

After dropping from La Liga last season Tenerife had high hopes of bouncing right back up. Unfortunately just the opposite happened. CDT lost 6 of their first 9 games and didn't win until game 10. A good streak gave a little hope, but 8 and 10 game winless streaks doomed the team. Tenerife had 3 manager changing this year, which didn't help. With one game left in the season the chicharros are already relegated to Segunda B for the first time in 24 years with a guranteed 20th placed finish (out of 22 teams). They have a chance to salvage something out of this season this weekend as they travel to Las Palmas for the Canary Islands derby. The teams tied in Santa Cruz de Tenerife earlier in the season so the winner on Saturday, if there is one, can claim dominance of the islands until the teams meet again. Unfortunately Las Palmas will not be going down with CDT, so they'll be able to flaunt that until Tenerife recovers.

Melbourne Victory - Australian A-League

The Victory, coming off a disappointing loss in last year's final to their rivals Sydney FC, was hoping to continue their dominance of the A-League. Unfortunately it appears that they tried to push their aging team one too many years before rebuilding as the team suffered from mixed results all season, highlighted by captain Kevin Muscat committing an unforgivable red-card tackle (similar but worse than Mullan's) that got him banned for 8 weeks until the end of the regular season. He announced his retirement at the end of the Asian Champion's League, in which the Victory finished last in its group. Melbourne managed to finish 5th and qualify for the playoffs, but they were bounced in the first round by Gold Coast United. The team seems to have started a rebuilding process before next season.

Overseas Wrap-up

I dropped the weekly update on my non-MLS teams, but now that their seasons are over I thought I would do a final wrap-up of where they finished this year.

Queen of the South: Queens had quite an odd season as they had a long break in mid-winter as the heavy storms in the UK made it impossible for them to play their scheduled games. This lead to a congested fixture list int he second half of the season. The Doonhamers weathered it well though, but nobody in the 1st Division could stand up to the just-relegated Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Thistle won the league, and promotion, by 12 points. QoS won the tiebreaker over Ross County for 4th place, 17 points behind the leaders, but only 5 points behind 2nd place Dundee. Next year Falkirk drops down from the SPL and Stirling Albion and Cowdenbeath get promoted from the Second Division to replace Ayr United and Airdrie United. Not having the long road trip to Inverness should help a bit.

Blackburn Rovers: The Rovers improved significantly from last year. After the season got started they were never in real threat to be relegated. Despite being shellacked by the 'Big 4' Blackburn held its own against the rest of the league and hovered around mid-table for most of the season. The high point of the season was probably the two victories against their East Lancashire rivals Burnley, which lead to Burnley being relegated by 5 points. They also beat Bolton both times, another rival. Finishing the season with two victories moved them up to 10th place, giving the team something to build on for next year.

CD Tenerife: CDT got a lesson in La Liga this year. They struggled in their first season in the top flight and spent most of it just inside or outside the relegation zone. The team never really got a good run going, and didn't have much to hang their hat on. Still with two weeks to play their chances of survival were still looking fairly good, with a game at home against a weaker team before ending at 3rd placed Valencia, who had nothing to play for. Unfortunately they only got 1 point out of the 2 games and were relegated by 2 points. They'll return to the Segunda Division next season hoping for a quick rebound back to the top. Hopefully they'll return stronger.

Melbourne Victory: Melbourne continued to be one of the best teams in the Australian A-League. They constantly battled with their rivals, Sydney FC. for first place. The season ended with the Victory playing in Sydney with the regular season title on the line. A win or a draw for Melbourne gave them the title, a loss gave it to Sydney. Unfortunately Sydney won 2-0 to take the championship, but the Victory would look for revenge in the playoffs. The two teams were matched up in the first round and Melbourne won the first leg and the two teams battled to a draw int he second leg. This advanced Melbourne to the Grand Final, while Sydney had to get through the losers bracket. They did, and for the 4th time in 5 weeks the two teams met for the A-League Championship. Victory legend Archie Thompson was injured early in the first half and that may have been the difference as the teams had to settle it on penalties. With a reduced strike force for Melbourne Sydney took advantage, winning 4-2 on penalties and leaving their rivals with nothing to show for their great season.

Mid-Season Roundup

So, time to get caught up with my other teams. Obviously the Rapids are still in the off season, but my other 4 teams are all int he middle of their seasons.

Queen of the South - Queens is having its best season since the year they won the Second Division and are on course to finish higher in the league pyramid than ever in their history. The lousy weather in the UK has played havoc with their schedules though, they've had 3 games called off in recent weeks. QoS have played 18 of their 36 games and currently sit in a 3-way tie for 2nd in the First Division, due to goal differential they are winning the tiebreaker. Unfortunately they are a full 8 points behind leaders Dundee, but the Doonhamers have 2 games in hand and later this month Dundee will be traveling to Palmerston Park for a top of the table clash. Queens has already beaten and drawn Dundee this season, so there's a real chance that we'll close the gap. QoS has been eliminated from all 3 of their Cup competitions for the season.

Blackburn Rovers - Blackburn has had a better start to this season than last, with the exception of bad losses against the 'Big 4'. At the mid-point of the season (20 of 38 games played) Rovers are 13th, 3 points above the relegation zone. This is better than last year when they spent most of the season in the relegation zone, only to escape at the end. Currently though Blackburn is on a 8 game win less streak in league play, with a game at Man City scheduled for Monday. Over the New Year's weekend the Rovers were eliminated from the FA Cup at the hands of Big Bad Brad Friedel and Aston Villa, but they face them again in the 2-legged semifinal of the League Cup starting on Thursday.

CD Tenerife - Tenerife is having a rough time in their return to the Primera Division. After a strong start to the season, especially at home, they've struggled with only 1 win in their last 8 games. Still they've done enough to still be out of the relegation zone at this time, sitting 17th with a 2 point cushion after 16 of 38 games. There's a big match up tomorrow as Barcelona makes its first trip back tot he Canary Islands since CDT was promoted. The game can be seen on ESPN360,, and I'm really looking forward to it. After that 3 of the next 4 games are against teams int he bottom half of the table, so hopefully they'll be able to get a run going. The Los blanquiazules have been eliminated from the Copa del Ray already

Melbourne Victory - Melbourne are about 2/3rds of the way through the season, with only 7 of their 27 games remaining. They currently sit 2nd. 3 points behind rivals Sydney FC with a game in hand. The final game of the regular season is at Sydney, so this one will probably go down to the wire. There is no Cup competition in Australia yet, just the playoffs for the top 6 teams after the season ends.

Weekend Roundup 10/3 - 10/11

Colorado Rapids - The Rapids 4 draws in 4 games has put them 5th in the West and 7th overall in MLS. They are officially out of running for the Supporters Shield, but can still finish anywhere from 2nd to 12th. Colorado is tied with Columbus for the second best offense and have the 6th best defense.

Queen of the South - Two weeks ago QoS hosted Morton and apparently decided to take the first 60 minutes of the game off. The visitors were up 2-0 at the half and 3-0 after 60 minutes. Queens stopped the bleeding but wasn't able to do anything themselves until the end of the game. Wilson finally scored in the 86 minute followed by Dean in the 90th minute. Their hole was too big though and they couldn't get the 3rd goal they needed.

On Saturday the Doonhamers took some lessons from their guests the week before as they traveled to Inverness. Queen of the South's Holmes scored inside of the first minute on the road. They gave the goal back after 19 minutes and the rest of the game was a close fought affair. In the 83rd minute Holmes got his second of the game to edge QoS in front, and he completed his hat-trick 7 minutes later. With the 3-1 Queens moved to the top of the First Division at the quarter-mark by 1 point, though there are 4 teams right behind them and 3 of them have a game in hand.

Blackburn Rovers - Two weeks ago the Rovers traveled to London to face the Rapids' partner club Arsenal. Blackburn took the early lead after 4 minutes, only to give it back 13 minutes later. In the 30th minute Rovers once again took the lead at what turned out to be the high point of the match for them. 60 minutes and 5 unanswered goals later they were on the wrong end of a 6-2 loss. Always a tough match, but the team looked particularly bad in the second half. Blackburn are in a 5 way tie for 14th, but have a game in hand over 60% of the league. Their next match is the renewal of the derby with Burnley at home.

CD Tenerife - Last week CDT hosted Deportivo La Coruña at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodriguez Lopez in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The Blue and White were undefeated at home going into the game, another one I got to watch on ESPN360.com! Unfortunately, much like the last game I watched, Tenerife had good control but couldn't convert and Coruña was patient and waited for their chance, which they got right after the break. The 1 goal was enough and for the first time the home fans went home disappointed. The loss dropped them to 15th, just 2 points above the relegation zone.

Kildare County - Two weeks ago County hosted 11th placed Meruve United in possibly their final chance to avoid the relegation playoff. Unfortunately like much of this season they couldn't convert on the opportunity and lost 1-0, all but sealing their fate. The team has 2 draws in 12 games at home. Last week they traveled to Limerick, and like the rest of the season they were better on the road, winning 3-2. County has 13 points in 15 road games, almost playing to the "draw on the road" part of the "win at home, draw on the road" rule of thumb. I have no idea why the team is so bad at home, but maybe the manager should take the team on a bus ride before every home game! The Thoroughbreds are still last, and have to make up 8 points in 4 games. They could "clinch" the relegation playoff with the right (wrong) results this weekend.

Weekend Roundup 9/26 - 9/27

Colorado Rapids - With the Rapids two draws last week they are now 3rd int he West and 5th overall in MLS. New England and Chivas are lurking right behind them with games in hand though, and Colorado no longer has games in hand over the teams in front of them. The Rapids are tied for 2nd in goals scored with DC and Columbus and are 6th in goals allowed.

Queen of the South - On Wednesday the Doonhamers had a huge game at Palmerston Park against Rangers in the 3rd round of the League Cup. This was a rematch of the 2007-2008 FA Cup final that Rangers won 3-2. Today would see a similar result as again Rangers won by a goal, 2-1. The visitors scored early but much like the FA Cup final had to defend in numbers as QoS refused to go quietly. It took until the 77th minute before the Glasgow side could get the second goal, and even then Queens wasn't done, scoring in stoppage time to make Rangers sweat until the end.

QoS wasn't happy with the result and took their frustrations out in Dunfermline Athletic over the weekend. The teams combined for 5 goals in the last 15 minutes of the first half! The good news for the visitors from Dumfries is that they scored 4 of them to take a 4-1 lead to the locker rooms. The second half was decidedly less eventful and the Doonhamers were happy to get the 3 points on the road. 7 games in Queens is on top of the table by a point.

Blackburn Rovers - Rovers started the week by playing Robin Hood to Nottingham Forest's Sheriff. They traveled to forest for their 3rd Round League Cup match. Benni McCarthy got his first goal of the season in the 37th minute but it was Nottingham who controlled much of the match. Rovers were up to the challenge though, and keeper Jason Brown saved a PK to preserve the shutout as Blackburn stole a win and advanced to the final 16.

The team returned to Ewood Park to face Rovers legend Big Bad Brad Friedel and the rest of his Aston Villa side. It only took 3 minutes for the visitors to take the lead on their first attack of the game. The rest of the half was end-to-end action with Blackburn having the better chances. Midway through the half Chris Samba leveled the game, though that would be the only other score in a busy half. The second half was a little more controlled but Rovers continued to push the action. Vince Grella was shown a second yellow card with 20 minutes remaining, but that didn't stop Blackburn. The pressure paid off in stoppage time David Dunn stepped up to beak Friedel from the spot and Rovers claimed a big 3 points. Blackburn is 15th in the table, 3 points clear of the relegation zone.

CD Tenerife - The Blue and White hosted Athletic Bilbao in Santa Cruz on Wednesday. Despite the lofty heights of the visitors (3rd in La Liga at the time) CDT showed little concern and played liek the favorites the whole game. Their only problem was a lack of accuracy in shooting which kept the game scoreless until late. Mikel Alonso got onto an Alfaro cross and nodded home for a 1-0 win.

El Tete faced the biggest test of the season on Saturday as they were in Madrid to face Real. The game was on ESPN360.com, so I was able to see Tenerife for the first timee since I was in the Canary Islands almost 2 and a third years ago. You can see that there is no fear in this side. They don't care who they're playing, they will take the attack to them and they believe they belong on the same field as the likes of Ronaldo, Raul, and Kaka. While CDT controlled long stretches of the game and created a number of good chances. the result shows the difference in the teams. Madrid made their chances count and Tenerife didn't, losing 3-0. The chicharerros are now undefeated at home and win less (without a goal) on the road. Not a bad start for their return to La Liga, they are in 13th place in the table, 3 points clear of relegation.

Kildare County - County faced Longford Town, just ahead of them in the table, in midweek. The Thoroughbreds scored just before the break, only to allow the home side to level the score right after halftime. Kildare would get the winner with 4 minutes to play. The 3 points got them to within 7 points of Longford and MEruve united, giving them hope of getting out ot he relegation playoff.

The hope was short lived though as over the weekend County hosted leaders U.C.D. and the visitors showed them the difference between a top side and a bottom side. A 5-0 drubbing at home soured the midweek result. The Thoroughbreds need to make up 8 points in the final 6 matches or face the relegation playoff for the second straight year.

Weekend Roundup 9/19 - 9/20

Colorado Rapids - Colorado's draw with San Jose kept them in a tie with Chivas for 4th in the West and 6th overall. Colorado still has a game in hand over most of the teams in front of them, but Chivas and New England are lurking right behind them with a game in hand over the Rapids. Colorado is tied with DC for the 2nd best offense (2 behind Dallas) and tied with FSL and Chicago for the 6th best defense with 5 games to play.

Queen of the South - The Doonhamers hosted Dundee at Palmerston Park on Saturday. It onyl took 5 minutes for Queens to gain a huge advantage. Peter Weatherston was chopped down in the box by the Dundee keeper which resulted in a PK that Tosh converted for a 1-0 lead and a red card. That was a big hole for Dundee to dig itself early in the game but you couldn't tell for their play. While QoS had the better chances in the first half Dundee got its shots in and the teams would go to the locker room divided by the one goal. it only took 5 minutes after the break for Dundee to almost level the score as a shot came off the inside of the post and back out. The home side had seen enough and finally doubled the lead on a Derek Holmes goal. Dundee would continue to try to push but they would have no luck and the Doonhamers would get 3 points. They now look forward to their home tie on Wednesday night against Rangers in the League Cup. The win keeps QoS in 3rd place, 2 points behind leaders Ross County.

Blackburn Rovers - Blackburn traveled to Everton for this match, unfortunately they forgot to tell the back line. Rovers-killer Louis Saha, who had 6 out of his 13 career goals against Blackburn, added 2 more to his total as the back-line kept leaving him unmarked. El Hadji Diouf had a chance to beat American Tim Howard and level the score after the first Saha strike, but his header pinged off the crossbar. That was the closest Rovers would come as Saha would score his second shortly into the second half and Everton would add a third to take complete control of the game. The loss leaves Blackburn in a 4 way tie for 16th place in the table.

CD Tenerife -CDT went to the other Spanish holiday spot of Mallorca and got a rude awakening to life in La Liga. Attacks came from left, right, and center and Tenerife was just happy to defend them. That worked until the 17th minute when Mallorca got their first. Los Blanquiazules managed to stave off the attacks until the break but they didn't mount much of a campaign of their own. The game ended shortly after the break when the home side scored two quick goals to take a 3-0 lead. Things got worse for CDT as they picked up two red cards, the second leading to a PK and a final score of 4-0 for the bad guys. The loss drops Tenerife to 16th, foretelling a long season of avoiding relegation.

Kildare County - A desperate Kildare hosted Sporting Fingal at Station Road. The Thoroughbreds controlled play int he first half and were paid off with a 1-0 lead after 30 minutes. They doubled the lead right after the break and things were looking good, but as we've seen far too often this season, it all went wrong after that. Finegal came back with 3 goals in the last 39 minutes to steal 3 points on the road. County now needs 11 points more than Longford Town or Mervue United in the last 8 games in order to avoid the relegation playoff.

Weekend Roundup 9/12 - 9/13

Colorado Rapids - The Rapids loss in Toronto has dropped them to a tie with Chivas for 4th in the West and with DC for 6th overall. Colorado still has a game in hand over most of the teams in front of them, but Chivas and New England are lurking right behind them with a game in hand over the Rapids. Colorado has the 3rd best offense (1 behind DC and Dallas) and the 8th best defense with 6 games to play.

Queen of the South - Queens traveled to face Ross County last Saturday, having just been eliminated from the ALBA Cup by the same side. The Doonhamers got off to a good start, with Derek Holmes scoring off the first free kick. Despite some pressure from County QoS took the lead into the locker room at halftime. After the break Ross County pushed another player forward and it paid off quickly. In a two minute player Ross scored twice, first from the spot on a PK then from just outside the box. Queens wasn't going away quietly though and levelled the score a few minutes later as Stewart Kean converted a PK. 15 minutes from full time County retook the lead, this time for good, on another long shot. The loss moved the Doonhamers down to 5th int he table, 2 points behind their opponents who took the top spot with the win.

Blackburn Rovers - Blackburn hosted newly promoted Wolverhampton Wolves at Ewood Park. Rovers took control early as El Hadji Diouf scored his first goal of the season (and first home goal for Blackburn) do give the Rovers the lead after 19 minutes The home side would control the rest of the first half but could not convert that control into goals, and ongoing problem for the side. Blackburn's lead would grow to 3 after goals from Jason Roberts in the 57th minute, off a David Dunn corner, and Dunn in the 64th minute off a Roberts rebound. Wolves would get one back late but it was a comfortable first win of the season for Blackburn that took them up to 14th place and out of the relegation zone.

CD Tenerife - CDT hosted its first La Liga game in many years in Santa Cruz de Tenerife as Osasuna came to play. After a back and forth first half Osasuna went down a man shortly into the second half. This gave Los Blanquiazules the opening they needed and they took quick advantage. Nino took a lob from Ricardo and put it under the keeper for a 1-0 lead. Tenerife were apparently feeling pretty good about themselves and got caught on an Osasuna corner, giving up the equalizer. CDT would not be denied their first win in their home opener though and Ricardo put them back on top with a strike from outside the box. Osasuma quickly picked up another red card and that was that.

Kildare County - County had the week off due to domestic Cup action.

Weekend Roundup 8/29 - 9/6

Yeah, I missed last week. Since most teams were off over the weekend for the World Cup Qualifiers I'm not that far behind though.

Colorado Rapids - With their back to back home 1-0 wins the Rapids have given themselves a bit of breathing room. They are third in the West and tired for 5th overall with DC. They have a game or two in hand over 4 of the 5 teams in front of them though and everyone chasing them for a playoff spot has also played an extra game or two except Chivas and New England. The Rapids are 4 points behind Houston for top spot in the West and the league, but have played 2 less games. They have the second best offense and are tied with FSL for the 6th best defense in the league.

Queen of the South - Two weeks ago QoS hosted Ayr United at Palmerston. After 30 minutes of even play the Doonhamers took over the game. Queens laid siege to the Ayr goal and after a determined effort from the United keeper QoS broke through on a Willie McLaren goal to take a 1-0 lead into the locker rooms. The second half was more of the same and Quinn gave the Doonhamers a 2 goal lead in the 65th minute. After that it just a matter of good defense for Queens to take the 3 points. With the win QoS moved into a dead tie with Raith for the top spot after 4 games.

A week later Queens traveled to OoS County for the ALBA Cup quarter-final. The 30 lower-league teams had been whittled down to 8 and would be down to 4 by the end of the weekend. The first half was an end-to-end affair but Ross County would capitalize in the 26th minute with a well taken shot to put them up 1-0 at half. The second half saw the Doonhamers push for the equalizer but Ross County was up to the challenge. QoS got a free kick late and everyone pushed forward for it. It was successfully defended and turned into a counter-attack that allowed County to put the game away with a second goal. Queens' first loss of the season eliminated them from the ALBA Cup.

Blackburn Rovers - Two weeks ago Rovers hosted West Ham United (former home of former Rapids keeper Ian Feuer) at Ewood Park. Not surprisingly from a couple of teams that look like they'll be in the relegation battle this season there wasn't much of note to talk about. While each team had a couple of good chances neither one really threatened to take the 3 points, so the scoreless draw as probably a fair result. It was Blackburn's first point of the season though, and it appears we're going to need every one we can get. 3 games in and we're already 2 points into the relegation zone.

CD Tenerife - CDT celebrated their return to the Primera Division with a trip to fellow promoted side Zaragosa. Its always tough to win on the road to start the year, but Tenerife gave a good effort and looked to get a point. Unfortunately a poor clearance 17 minutes from time was all the second division champions needed to get 3 points at home. CDT will return home for their first La Liga game in the islands to face Osasuna, hoping to get their first points.

Kildare County - Two weeks ago County hosted Finn Harps and the defenses reigned supreme early and it looked like a 0-0 draw was likely. In the 54th minute the Thoroughbreds gave up a PK though. After that Kildare was forced to push forward to find an equalizer, which allowed Harps to score a second to put the game away. Last week County traveled to Athalone Town. Despite a red card they managed to hold on for a 2-2 draw to steal a much needed point. Unfortunately with 9 games remaining the Thoroughbreds are 9 points behind. They do not own the tiebreaker so they would have to be 10 points better than Longford Town over the last run of games. Kildare only has 9 points total this season! They are almost certainly going to have to go through the relegation playoff again this season.

Weekend Roundup 8/22 - 8/26

Colorado Rapids - With their defensive self-destruction on Saturday the Rapids have fallen to 5th in the West and in a 3 way tie with Toronto and New England for 7th in the league. If the playoffs started today they would claim the final playoff spot ahead of Toronto. They are tied with Columbus and DC for the best offense in the league but tied with FSL and Chicago for the 7th worst defense.

Queen of the South - Saturday Queens hosted Partick Thistle still looking for their first league win of the season. Thistle pushed QoS through most of the first half but the defense held strong and the teams went to the locker rooms scoreless. The second half was more evenly split but as the game entered its final minutes the score was still deadlocked. In the 79th minute David Weatherston was subbed into the game and had an immediate impact. in the 83rd minute Weatherston picked up a through ball from Holmes and rove in on goal and beat the Partick keeper from close range to give the Doonhamers a 1-0 win. That moved Queens up to 5th in the table, 1 point behind leaders Dunfermline.

On Tuesday the Doonhamers traveled to Partick Thistle to face them in the 2nd Round of the Co-operative Insurance Cup, the current name of the League Cup. Early on Queens controlled play but in the 30th minute Thistle was given a fre kick outside the box and made it count with a goal directly from the kick. They turned that into continuing control for the rest of the first half and into the second half. Manager Gordon Chisholm had seen enough and subbed Saturday hero David Weatherston into the game in the 60th minute and once again it paid immediate dividends. 3 minutes later he got onto the end of a Paul Burns cross to level the score. The game was an end-to-end affair for the last 25 minutes and it looked destined for extra time until somebody punched the rewind button and queued up Saturday's match. In stoppage time Weatherston got onto another through ball and pushed it under the Partick keeper to give QoS the win! With the victory Queens moves on tot he Round of 16 where the big guns of the SPL join the competition.

Blackburn Rovers - Rovers traveled to Sunderland on Saturday for their first game of a 3 game road trip. Blackburn had control early and turned it into a 1-0 lead off a Gael Givet goal in the 21st minute. Unfortunately as we've seen far too often the Rovers couldn't turn their domination on the field into domination on the scoreboard. 1 minutes later Sunderland leveled the score with their only significant chance of the half. 9 minutes after half Sunderland would take the lead and while Rovers would push for the equalizer it was not to be. After 2 games Blackburn is still looking for its first points of the campaign. West Ham comes into Ewood Park on Saturday, which should be a winnable game.

On Wednesday Blackburn traveled to Gillingham for the second round of the League Cup. 6 minutes in David Dunn put Rovers up 1-0. Gillingham pushed for a goal most of the first half but the defense held up and Blackburn took the advantage into the locker room. Seconds after Rovers kicked off to start the second half they had doubled their lead on a Junior Hoilett header. Gillingham got one back from the spot but Pederson sealed the deal with a goal in the 75th minute. With the win Blackburn moves into the 3rd Round.

Kildare County - County had a touch task ahead of them as they played at the home of First Division leaders Shelbourne. Unfortunately while they controlled much of the game they couldn't convert their chances. Shelbourne scored twice in the last 15 minutes to take the 3 points. Kildare is 9 points from safety with 11 games to play, more than double their current total. They are pretty much looking at a playoff to avoid relegation at this point.

Weekend Roundup 8/15 - 8/18

Colorado Rapids - The Rapids had the 3rd of their 4 bye weeks this season.

Queen of the South - On Saturday Queens traveled to Airdrie United for their first road league game of the season. This was somewhat of a surprise because as of 2 weeks ago this fixture was scheduled to be a trip to Livingston to face John Murphy's side. However to to their financial problems Livingston was relegated to the 3rd division on August 5th and Morton and Airdrie were both bounced up a division to compensate. The match had a few good chances for each side, but it wasn't until the last 20 minutes that things started to really heat up. In the 70th minute Queens scored from a Bob Harris free kick that was redirected by Stewart Kean. Airdrie answered back 11 minutes later and while both teams pushed for the winner, QoS had to settle for their second 1-1 draw of the season.

On Tuesday the Doonhammers traveled to fellow first-division side Dunfermline for the round of 16 of the ALBA Challenge Cup. QoS didn't waste any time and in the 12th minute Stewart Kean headed in his second goal in as many games. While Queens controlled the game, Dunfermline was able to equalize in the 54th minute. Things looked to be going to extra time when Stevie Tosh scored for Queens in the 92nd minute. The win puts QoS into the quarterfinals of the ALBA Cup along with 4 other First Division sides, a Second Division side, and 2 Third Division sides.

Blackburn Rovers - The Rovers faced old manager Mark Hughes and Man. City at home to start the season. The season did not start well as it took Adebayor only 3 minutes to put City on top. Blackburn controlled the rest of the half, having 4 clear-cut chances and were unlucky to go into the locker rooms down 1-0. The second half was more even but City couldn't relax until Ireland scored in stoppage time to clinch the win for the visitors. Not the start to the season that Blackburn was hoping for. They now face a 3 game road trip to Fulham, Sunderland, and Gillingham.

Kildare County - County was off this week while the later rounds of Cup action took place.

Weekend Roundup 8/8 - 8/9

Colorado Rapids - With the demolishing of Chivas USA the Rapids moved up to 3rd int he West, just a point from the automatic playoff spot in 2nd and 8 points behind leading Houston (who has played two more games). They are 5th overall in the league, which would clinch a Superliga spot at minimum (assuming the competition runs next year). The Rapids are tied with Columbus for the 2nd best offense and are tied with FSL for 8th on defense.

Queen of the South - In the first league game of the year QoS hosted Raith Rovers at Palmerston Park. Apparently nobody told the officials that the season had started as they appeared to still be in preseason form. The Doonhamers were hurt by a bizarre yellow on Tosh in the middle of the first half followed immediately by a second, and thus a red, for dissent. Right before half Raith took advantage to take a 1-0 lead into the locker rooms. That looked like it was going to be enough to steal the first 3 points of the season but with 2 minutes to play Holmes levelled the score to claim a point for Queens.

Kildare County - The Thoroughbreds hosted title-chasing Waterford and regressed to their early season play. A 2-0 loss has probably put an end to County's hopes of at least not finishing the season with the worst goal differential, and puts them one game closer to the relegation playoff. With 12 games to play Kildare is still 7 points behind, and without the tiebreaker its actually 8.

Weekend Roundup 7/24 - 8/2

The Weekend Roundup is back early because QoS got an early start to the season with Cup games the last two weekends

Colorado Rapids - After the loss to Columbus, Colorado has fallen into a tie with Chivas for 4th place in the West and with Toronto for 7th place overall. Due to the games in hand the Rapids have the edge over Toronto and DC for the next-to-last playoff spot. The Rapids are in a 4 way for 3rd in goals scored with Toronto, FSL, and Dallas but are tied for 7th with FSL and Columbus in goals allowed.

Queen of the South - QoS starts their league play on Saturday, but the last two weekends has seen them playing in the early rounds of two Cup competitions. First, two weeks ago, the Doonhamers hosted Livingston in the first round of the ALBA Cup (A Cup competition open to the lower 3 tiers of the Scottish league). Queens picked up an early goal in the 9th minute and then held off Livingston for the remainder of what was a pretty dull game for the win. Of particular note for Rapids fans is that this was the first game in the managerial career of Livingston's first manager, former Rapids assistant coach John Murphy.

Last weekend the Dumfries boys travelled to Queen's Park for a battle royale in the first round of the Co-operative Insurance Cup aka the League Cup. The Doonhamers didn't take long to prove they were the better Queens as they scored in the 1st, 10th, and 13th minutes and followed that with a 4th goal in the 70th minute before allowing the opposition to get one back in the 82nd minute. A good double Cup wins to start the season for Queen of the South.

Kildare County - After Kildare's first win 4 weeks ago the Thoroughbreds have taken off. They followed the win with a scoreless draw at home against Limerick. After hosting Mohaghan United and losing 2-0 they travelled to Wexford where they claimed their second win of the season 3-0. They started the season 0-1-15 with 2 Cup losses, but since then they've gone 2-1-1 with both wins by 3 goals. Unfortunately they are 7 points from safety with only 12 games to play. It seems that County left it too late this season, but there's still hope.

Weekend Roundup 6/20 - 6/28

With the 3 Rapids games last week plus trying to keep up with the National Team I didn't get the final Weekend Roundup posted, so here it is. Even though Colorado and Kildare County are still in season I'm going to retire the weekly update until the other European leagues start up again in late summer. If Kildare County ever wins (or hell, even draws) a game I'll post an update otherwise you'll get plenty of Rapids news anyway.

Colorado Rapids - After their 4 points in the last 3 games the Rapids have fallen to 4th in the West and tied with our upcoming opponents Chicago for 8th overall in MLS. We still have played a game or two less than everyone above us, and only 2 points separates us for 4th overall. The Rapids are tied with Columbus, Toronto, and Chicago for 4th in goals scored but they have dropped into a tie for 7th with LA in goals allowed.

CD Tenerife - Tenerife just had to match what Xerez and Real Zargoza did on the last weekend to clinch the Segunda Division title. On Saturday both teams drew, which meant a win or a draw over 8th placed Castellon at home in front of the fans celebrating the promotion to La Liga would do it. CDT took the lead in the 41st minute and we well on their way. Castellon pulled level in the 55th minute but rolling into stoppage time the deal; was done. Unfortunately nobody told Castellon and they scored in stoppage time to snatch the tile away from Tenerife and their celebrating fans. With the loss CDT finished 3rd, just 3 points from missing out on promotion so the win on the next-to-last weekend proved vital. They were tied with Real Zargoza and 1 point behind Xerez. In the long run though, the big goal of promotion was achieved and while winning the title would have been nice the consolation prize of La Liga is nothing to sneeze at.

Kildare County - County lost by one goal on the road to Sporting Fingal. Most people say it was their best soccer of the season so far, but a loss is still a loss. They are now 8 points from safety, and its actually 9 since they'll lose the tiebreaker. Its now a 15 game losing streak though where they've been outscored 47-6.

Weekend Roundup 6/13 - 6/14

Colorado Rapids - The Rapids had the week off before their 3 games in 7 days next week.

CD Tenerife - PROMOTION! LA LIGA!!! CDT went into Girona needing just a point or a Hercules draw or loss to clinch promotion. Hercules dominated their game, winning 4-1, so it was no Tenerife to get a result, and with a 40th minute goal from Kome they did, holding out for a 1-0 victory and starting the party. I'm pretty sure Santa Cruz de Tenerife is still rocking. Next year it will be visited by the likes of Kaka, Christiano Ronaldo, and Thierry Henry, and not just because they're coming to the tropics for vacation. With one game to play CDT leads Xerez by 2 in the goal differential tiebreaker and Real Zaragoza by a point. Xerez travels to 17th placed Celta Vigo and Zaragoza travels to 5th placed Rayo Vallencano white Tenerife hosts 8th placed Castellon. As long as the team isn't hung over from this week's parties they should be able to handle Castellon, which means Xerez will have to win by 3 goals more than CDT (Since CDT wins the third tiebreaker, goals scored, by 6) in order to take the title from them. We'll know by noon MDT on Sunday!

Kildare County - County lost by one goal at home again to Athlone Town. The "good" news is that this was a FAI Cup game, so it didn't hurt their league standing. Of course they're out of the Cup now. Its now a 14 game losing streak though where they've been outscored 46-6.

Weekend Roundup 6/6 - 6/7

Colorado Rapids - The comeback draw in SLC allowed the Rapids to catch Seattle in the standings. They now share 3rd in the West and 5th overall, but 3 of the teams ahead of them have played 2 more games than Colorado, and Seattle has played 1 more. Chivas still has a 6 point lead on the rest of the field. The Rapids are tied with Columbus and KC for the 4th best offense and LA for the 4th best defense. Not bad for a team that's played 7 of their first 11 on the road.

CD Tenerife - Tenerife has possibly their biggest game of the season as they hosted leaders Xerez in the Heliodoro Rodríguez López Stadium. With a win CDT would match them on points and put them just short of promotion. The game started well with a goal at 15 minutes, only for disaster to strike 12 minutes later when Ricardo saw red. Even a man down though Tenerife could not be stopped and not only did they defend their lead they added to it with a vital goal in the 84th minute to claim a 2-0 win. That second goal evens the first tiebreaker (Aggregate head-to-head) with Xerez and gave CDT a two gaol lead in the second tiebreaker (Goal differential). With two games to play Tenerife is on top of the Segunda Division. Not only that but they have a 6 point lead on the 4th placed team, Hercules, the only team not in a promotion spot that can catch them. Since CDT loses the tiebreaker with Hercules and with Rayo Vallecano in 3rd they are not yet assured of promotion, but all they need is one draw in their last two games or Hercules not to win one of their last two games to be assured of being in La Liga next season. Of the 4 teams in running for promotion Xerez has a much easier schedule than the other two, and are favorites to win the division, but Tenerife has the second easiest schedule with a road game at the 14th placed team and then the season finally at home against the 9th placed team. nothing's official yet, but CDT is very, very close now.

Kildare County - County lost by one goal at home again to Longford Town, but for the first time all season they scored 2 goals! Another small step. Its now a 13 game losing streak though where they've been outscored 44-5. Amazingly a 2 game win streak might get them to safety though.

Weekend Roundup 5/30 - 5/31

Blackburn is now on hiatus until the next (thankfully) EPL season this fall

Colorado Rapids - The win in New York has allowed Colorado to keep pace with Seattle and Houston. The Rapids are still 4th in the West but they are now in a 4-way tie for 5th overall in MLS and they have played 2 less games than the other teams with 16 points. Chivas is still leading the pack by 3 points. Colorado is tied with KC for 4th in goals scored, and is tied with LA for 4th in goals allowed.

CD Tenerife - CDT travelled to bottom-of-the-league Sevilla and treated them like you would expect the 2nd placed team to treat them, coming home with a 4-0 win. 3 goals int eh first 30 minutes out the game away almost before it started. Not only does the 3 points get us closer to promotion, but the 4 goals go a long way in helping the goal differential tiebreaker. With 3 games to play Tenerife has a 6 point cushion over 4th placed Hercules. They are 3 points behind leaders Xerez (who lost this week) and face them at home this weekend. With a win and a Hercules draw or loss, or a draw and a Hercules loss this weekend CDT will clinch promotion. Even in a worst case scenario of a loss ans a Hercules win Tenerife will still have a 3 point elad with 2 games to play. Hercules finishes with hosting the 16th placed team and at the 7th placed team, while Tenerife goes to the 12th placed team and hosts the 9th placed team in the final game.

Kildare County - County lost, but only by a score of 1-0 at home to Athlone Town. That's almost respectable! Its now a 12 game losing streak where they've been outscored 41-3. They are now 5 points from safety, but really 6 since Kildare would lose the tiebreaker.

Weekend Roundup 5/23 - 5/24

Colorado Rapids - The disappointing draw against Seattle moves Seattle to 4th in the West and 8th overall in MLS. The disappointing loss against Seattle leaves Colorado out of the U.S. Open Cup. Chivas is still leading the pack by 6 points but still with 1-2 more games played than a number of teams. Colorado is 9th in goals scored, but is tied with Chicago for 4th in goals allowed.

Blackburn Rovers - In the finale of the season Blackburn hosted West Bromwich Albion. WBA was already guaranteed to be relegated in last place, while Blackburn was save from relegation. Both teams played like nothing was on the line and the game ended in a 0-0 draw. Rovers finish the season 15th, 7 points from the relegation zone and 12 points from the last European spot. A big drop from last year's 7th place finish but things could be worse, we could be Newcastle.

CD Tenerife - CDT had to bounce back from the disappointing loss at Hercules and bounce back they did. They were hosting Alaves in Santa Cruz and the support of the home fans seemed to be just what they were looking for. Tenerife took an early 1 goal lead, and then killed the game with 2 goals in a 5 minute span around the 60th minute. The 3-0 win combined with other results re-establishes CDT's hold on a promotion spot and gets them within striking distance of the league championship. With 4 games to play Tenerife is only 3 points back of Xerez (who they face at home in two weeks) and they have a 4 point cushion on their promotion spot, though they would lose the tiebreaker with 4th placed Hercules. They're guaranteed a top 6 spot, but at this point anything outside the top 3 promotion spots would be a failure of a season. Next weekend they travel to already relegated Sevilla Athletico, so there are 3 points for the taking. With the exception of the home game against Xerez the remaining games are against teams currently in the bottom half of the table.

Kildare County - County scored! Unfortunately it was in the 81st minute and they were down 2-0 on the road to Finn Harps. Needless to say they lost, again, making it a 11 game losing streak where they've been outscored 40-3. Hard to believe that blowing a 1-0 lead in the first game to get a draw at home is the highlight of the season so far.