Z/Web

I hadn’t a chance to see Atalanta, a promoted club this season, and doing incredibly well as the only undefeated club in the Serie A (they are in second place overall). Both teams started off well, with a few nice chances, but it was Frenchman Lamochi who scored first on a pass from fellow Frenchman Michou. After that it was mostly Atalanta in the Parma penalty area, but they couldn’t score. The second half started off with a Parma free kick that almost went in, but an Atalanta defender kicked the keeper’s rebound out of play. A few minutes later Buffon made a great save to preserve Parma’s lead, followed by a series of Parma free kicks that threatened Atalanta but didn’t go in. With less than ten to play, Conceicao put the moves of a defender to free some space and then shot left-footed laser that grazed the inside of the near post. That pretty much did it. Atalanta was impressive, and certainly deserve to be in the Serie A, but Parma proved superior. Final: 2-0 Parma.

I like both these teams: Sunderland for their fighting underdog spirit and scoring phenom Kevin Philips and Everton because they’re intelligent enough to have an American player, Joe-Max Moore. Unfortunately, Moore sat on the bench for most of the game, and thus Everton dominated. The first half remained nil-nil until last minute, when defender Rae ran onto a rebound and blasted it into the net. In the second half, Sunderland peppered the Everton goal with shots, and finally Philips broke his own goalless streak with a simple tap-in. Moore was put in with 20 minutes left, which was great to see, but still Sunderland dominated. Moore put in a corner kick which was very nearly headed in, and he got a few other good touches, but he didn’t have time to do enough. Final: 2-0 Sunderland.

I’m not a huge Leicster fan, mostly because they don’t score goals. Well, color me wrong, at least for this game. Seven minutes in Robbie Savage heads in a keeper’s rebound, and ten minutes after that Akinbiyi heads in a second goal. You might have thought that was Leicster’s quota for the month, but then, on a clever free kick play, the ball was crossed instead of driven in, and Taggert leaped up to head the cross past the keeper. Three-zero in less than 30 minutes! In the second half Leeds really pressed, getting numerous corners, but couldn’t score. Then defender Lucas Radebe got sent off with his second yellow, putting Leeds down to ten men. Leeds finally got a goal when Smith’s shot rebounded to Viduka, who had an easy tap-in. After that Leeds had some good chances, including a free kick that hit the post. But it was too much of a lead to overcome: 3-1 Leicster.