CZECHO’S SOCCER CORNER
Chelsea opened the Premier League season with a convincing 4-0 victory over Portsmouth. Joe Cole, Anelka, Lampard and new signing Deco were the scorers. Arsenal scored their first goal in the fourth minute by newcomer Nasri, but struggled to add more against newly promoted West Bromwich. Arsenal is still without Tomas Rosicky who should return next month, after a lengthy recovery from leg surgery. Another newcomer, Stoke City also lost, but third rookie team Hull City beat Fulham 2-1. The big surprise was Tottenham’s defeat by Middlesbrough and Manchester United could only come up with a draw with Newcastle. Liverpool struggled throughout the whole match with Sunderland and it was Torres who secured the three points for the team. The hero for Aston Villa fans has to be Agbonlahor who scored three goals within eight minutes in the second half. EPL standings…
Bundesliga got off to roaring start with a lot of goals and plenty of action. Newcomers Hoffenheim started their Bundesliga campaign with a historical away win over Energie Cottbus. Dortmund also scored an away win with a 3-2 victory over Leverkusen. It took only four minutes for Dortmund to score, but Bayer tied the match 17 minutes later. Dortmund scored two more and Leverkusen only managed one more goal with eight minutes to go. Schalke didn’t give much chance to Hannover and sent them home with a 3-0 loss. Wolfsburg had to work hard for their victory being one goal down in the first half. Second half saw an improved host team scoring two goals. Bayern Munich’s new coach Jurgen Klismann saw only a 2-2 tie with Hamburg SV and the newly promoted Borussia Monchengladbach lost to Stuttgart 1-3. Hertha Berlin outplayed Eintracht Frankfurt by a score of 2-0. Brazilian Raffael and Patrick Ebert scoring the goals. Bundesliga standings…
French Ligue 1 continue with round 2 with a majority of the matches being played on Saturday. Le Mans went home with an impressive 3-1 win over a sluggish Lille. Monaco managed to only draw with Nantes, Nice beat Nancy, Saint-Etienne and FC Toulouse also won. Sunday’s match between Lorient and seven time champion Olympique Lyon saw a hard fought battle ending in a goalless draw. Meanwhile Grenoble won their second match in row and that propelled the team to the top of the standings. It was Nassim Akrour’s early goal that secured their 1-0 victory with Stade Rennais. The other Olympique, Marseille trashed Auxerre 4-0 and is slowly emerging as one of Lyon’s main opponents. Ligue 1 standings…
