Eat. Sleep. Soccer.

The US took the lead in the 9th minute when Graham Zusi got onto a loose ball in the box. The US never got much rhythm, but they were playing Panama even in the first half.

The game changed on the red card as Geoff Cameron was judged to take down Blas Perez. It was a close call for a foul which made the red card harsh. However, the US withstood the pressure and even saw the game off fairly comfortably.
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The United States dominated the game with possession, but struggled to create chances. The US began to create more and more chances before Ricardo Clark scored in the seventh minute of stoppage time off a header from a corner kick. The US had the better of chances and Venezuela’s goalkeeper had made a number of big saves. It was a good performance by the US as they did a great job holding the ball and winning it back whenever they did lose it. They should be more cutting with all of their possession, but it doesn’t take away from what was a solid performance by a mostly back-up group of players.

Here are my player grades for the game.
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Despite international tournaments in AFC, CONCACAF, and CONMENBOL, no international games make this list as the tournaments in the summer disappointed in terms of offensive punch, although the CONCACAF Gold Cup final was an exciting comeback for Mexico.

Here is a look at my top games of the year.
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This has been a year that has been dominated by Barcelona once again, and the start of the fall season saw games with plenty of goals. However, there were plenty of great goals. Before I get to my top goals, here is one of the best own goals you’ll ever see.

This goal from Neymar would have been on my list, but I didn’t watch this particular game but only the highlights. Needless to say, I think he’ll have many great goals in his future.

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Happy Holidays from ESS! Most of the leagues are on break, but England is fitting in a couple of rounds of fixtures in that time. Here are my predictions for the next week.

December 26:
Chelsea vs. Fulham (Home Win: 90.6%, Draw: 7.0%, Away Win: 2.4%, Score: 2.48-0.56)
Bolton Wanderers vs. Newcastle United (41.9%, 28.5%, 29.5%, 1.35-1.16)
Liverpool vs. Blackburn Rovers (59.5%, 24.0%, 16.5%, 1.87-0.96)
Manchester United vs. Wigan Athletic (63.7%, 22.2%, 14.1%, 1.97-1.07)
Sunderland vs. Everton (42.3%, 30.2%, 27.5%, 1.38-1.11)
West Bromwich Albion vs. Manchester City (33.7%, 28.5%, 37.8%,m 1.30-1.46)
Stoke City vs. Aston Villa (43.2%, 29.8%, 27.0%, 1.39-1.10)

December 27:
Arsenal vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers (55.3%, 22.8%, 21.9%, 1.82-1.03)
Swansea City vs. Queens Park Rangers (42.7%, 30.8%, 26.5%, 1.35-1.07)
Norwich City vs. Tottenham Hotspur (36.2%, 27.2%, 36.5%, 1.34-1.44)

December 30:
Liverpool vs. Newcastle United (61.0%, 23.8%, 15.2%, 1.93-0.92)

December 31:
Manchester United vs. Blackburn Rovers (69.1%, 17.0%, 14.0%, 2.18-1.13)
Arsenal vs. Queens Park Rangers (56.8%, 20.8%, 22.4%, 1.86-1.01)
Bolton Wanderers vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers (42.3%, 29.5%, 28.2%, 1.40-1.14)
Chelsea vs. Aston Villa (84.3%, 12.0%, 3.8%, 2.18=0.46)
Norwich City vs. Fulham (47.4%, 26.0%, 26.6%, 1.41-1.02)
Stoke City vs. Wigan Athletic (42.4%, 29.7%, 27.8%, 1.39-1.13)
Swansea City vs. Tottenham Hotspur (27.6%, 29.4%, 43.0%, 1.08-1.46)

January 1:
West Bromwich Albion vs. Everton (43.5%, 28.4%, 28.1%, 1.41-1.11)
Sunderland vs. Manchester City %, 25.5%, 46.2%, 1.16-1.65)

There are a couple of midweek games this weekend. Here are the predictions for the games.

December 20:
Wolverhampton Wanderers vs. Norwich City (Home Win: 43.7%, Draw: 28.9%, Away Win: 27.4%, Score: 1.51-1.15)
Blackburn Rovers vs. Bolton Wanderers (46.5%, 29.1%, 24.4%, 1.47-1.01)

Siena vs. Fiorentina (38.5%, 31.0%, 30.6%, 1.32-1.15)
Cagliari vs. AC Milan (32.8%, 27.4%, 39.7%, 1.30-1.49)

AS Nancy Lorraine vs. Marseille (41.1%, 27.9%, 31.0%, 1.43-1.29)
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Here is the second week of using a new model.

December 16:
Bayern Munich vs. FC Cologne (Home Win: 72.6%, Draw: 21.4%, Away Win: 6.0%, Score: 2.30-0.68)

Benfica vs. Rio Ave (83.6%, 11.5%, 4.9%, 2.40-0.54)
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Here are the predictions for the weekend. This model is slightly different as it does not account for shots and shots on goal, and instead only uses goals scored in order to predict results of the next game.

December 9, 2011
Hertha Berlin vs. Schalke 04 (Home Win: 47.2%, Draw: 27.7%, Away Win: 25.1%, Score: 1.53-1.09)

Braga vs. Pacos de Ferreira (55.2%, 24.0%, 20.8%, 1.77-1.02)
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The draw is out and there is a group of death. It was always a likely a group of death was going to emerge once Poland and Ukraine were given top seeds that they clearly did not deserve. Here is a recap of the draw followed by a closer look at the groups.

Group A: Poland, Greece, Russia, Czech Republic
This is by far the weakest group. Poland will the happiest as they have to feel with home advantage they could conceivably defeat any of these teams. Russia have the most talent in the group, but the Czech Republic and Greece are both hard working teams that will work to frustrate their opponents. However, given their lack of goals, Russia should win the group.
Prediction: Russia and Poland advance.
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Here are the predictions for the games this weekend.

November 25th
Udinese vs. AS Roma (Home Win: 45.7%, Draw: 29.4%, Away Win: 24.9%, 1.58-1.16)

FC Cologne vs. Borussia Monchengladbach (45.5%, 30.2%, 24.4%, 1.45-1.04)
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