Z/Web

Willem dominated in the early part of the game, but Ajax struck in the 11th minute. Machlas’ low grounder was going wide of the goal, but it was just outside of the keeper’s reacher. Brazilian winger Wamberto ran onto it and amazingly put it in from the end line, just over the diving keeper’s fingers. After that, except for the occasional counter-attack, Willem was on their heels as Ajax pressed forward. In the second half, Willem really tried, and had the superior play, but couldn’t capitalize. They had numerous chances, but either the shots went wild or Ajax’s Grimm made the key stop (he had several nice saves). And that was it: 1-0 Ajax, for their first win on the road this season.

Last year’s champs Deportivo got things going with a quirky goal from Djalminha. A fantastic through-ball was sent ahead of him toward the keeper and he just managed a touch to detour it around the keeper. Unfortunately, he’d hit it too hard to catch it and it seemed like it was going wide. But at the last moment it banged the post and spun in! EPSN2 lost the signal toward the end of the half and after a break they came back to reveal Villarreal had tied the score on a shot from Victor. The replay revealed it was an amazing strike from just outside the box. In the second half it was all Villarreal, who outplayed Deportivo, but like often happens in soccer, it was Deportivo who scored. Substitute Pandiani beat the offside trap and pushed the ball through the legs of the keeper! Villarreal were deflated for a while, but kept fighting, and with less than ten minutes left, Victor scored his second with a shot from outside the top corner of the box, low and past the keeper. It looked for certain we were heading for a 2-2 draw. But in injury time, Moises ran onto a desperate cross that was going just in front of the goal, and he scarcely had to touch it to put it in. The giant was toppled and the crowd went mad! Final: 3-2 Villarreal.

With Middlesbrough in such lowly form, how would they fare against powerhouse Arsenal? They did not start off well: in the 23rd minute keeper Crossley violently took down Lundberg in the box and not only gave Arsenal a penalty kick but was ejected! Substitute keeper Beresford was quickly put in to face the penalty, but Frenchman Henry easily scored. Beresford did well, making several excellent saves late in the half, but with Middlesbrough down to ten men, it didn’t look good for the home side. But Middlesbrough came back determined and played well. Arsenal sat back except for a few counters, including some impressive play by Henry (he played provider several times, and hit the post once). Other than a few shining moments, however, the game was weak, as Arsenal played defense (in a game they should have won by a large margin) and ten-man Middlesbrough struggled for any kind of quality offense. Final: 1-0 Arsenal.

These two are near the bottom of the table and I didn’t expect much, though the battle was fiercely contested. Neither team could score in the first half, though both had chances. Derby had the possession in the second half, but couldn’t do anything with it, and West Ham’s big money players failed to break the Derby defense. Lame. Final: 0-0.

Brescia hasn’t won a game all season, so one was surprised, to say the least, when they led at the half! Candela started things off for Roma in the 13th minute, but nine minutes later Bisoli leveled things for the smaller club. A penalty kick at the 45 minute mark put Brescia ahead going into the half, but the second half was all Roma as they pressed and Brescia tried to play defense. Brescia’s keeper made a spectacular double-save early on, but then Batistuta scored off a long shot that bounced to him off the post. He did the same thing again eighteen minutes later when Cafu’s shot hit the post and felt right at his feet. Then, in injury time, Batigoal got a terrific feed from Delvechio and put it away sweetly. Final: 4-2 Roma!