Brad set to start for Rovers against high-flying Chelsea at Ewood Park. Kickoff's at 6 a.m. PT/9 a.m. ET (and 1 a.m. Melbourne time for me here). Live TV on Fox Sports World in the USA, and on Fox Sports 2 in Australia. PbP's up for grabs, since I'm staying overnight in Ballarat tonight, after work, and therefore won't be able to see the game live. News round-up coming right right at y'all...
* * *I'm William, and this is the news* * * [*]Match preview & form guides -- Soccernet [*]Rovers seal deal for Sunderland's Gray -- Soccernet [*]Rovers hit by Amoruso setback -- Soccernet [*]Team News -- sportinglife.com [*]Gray sets sights on upward trend -- sportinglife.com [*]Window widens gulf: Souness -- sportinglife.com [*]Andresen finally joins Rovers -- skysports.com [*]Match preview & OPTA stats -- skysports.com [*]Souness and Duff -- Rovers' official site [*]Capital chalenge -- Rovers' official site [*]Blues for Taylor -- Rovers' official site [*]Match preview -- premierleague.com [*]Souness hopes to avoid Duff -- Yahoo's UK site, via TeamTalk [*]Blues clinch £2m Taylor deal -- Yahoo's UK site, via TeamTalk [*]Match preview, complete with facts & figures -- The BBC [*]Blackburn fail in Radzinski bid -- The BBC [*]Souness in transfer setback -- The BBC [*]Gray stays realistic as he launches Ewood career -- Lancashire Evening Post More later, perhaps-- if I have time while at work tonight...
Ouch, that hurts. To tie it in 87th, only to go down in 88th? At home? Bleeccchhhh. Blackburn might actually go down this year, though doubtful. Was Brad responsible for that last goal? Hope not...
Ah, the limitations of match-trackers. Friedel made one of the best saves of the year to keep Blackburn at 2-1. That looked like it saved a point for Rovers, but an unstoppable golazo by Johnson gave full points to Chelsea.
Good article breaking down the game, analyzing Blackburn's situation this season... Wanted: Souness the player http://soccernet.espn.go.com/feature?id=290148&cc=5901 ..... "The match would have been over long before the final whistle had Friedel not tipped over a Mutu free-kick and then produced a wonder save, somehow clawing the ball away from the line to prevent Lampard from completing a hat-trick." "A wonder save and a contender for save of the season which, followed by Gallagher's excellent 86th minute strike, seemed to have rescued an unlikely point for Blackburn. " ....... "Moment of the match: Brad Friedel's incredible save to deny Frank Lampard his first Premiership hat-trick - truly World Class. " ..... I still do not know which save was better Sunday, this save or Tim Howard's vs. that bycicle kick?
sheesh. friedel's "wonder save" must have occurred in the 7 minutes i didn't see in the 2nd half (between the two presentations yesterday). o well. hopefully will catch it on a highlight this week.
I did not see the save yet but will check out Tivo later today. However, the winning goal was some play. Corner kick partially cleared, Terry across the top of the box to Johnson, one touch over one defenders head, nutmeg the second defender and into the far side netting. Brad dove but I really don't know why!!!!
I watched the match, tuning out the SB at 7pm (checked in for the score at half-time, caught the 4th quarter after Blackburn-Chleski), and it was a terrific heartbreaker if you were rooting for Brad's side. All the goals were great efforts, but to get a point then lose it a minute later was cruel as only soccer and life can be.
They both were wonderful for different reasons, Howard's; because he had to recover so quickly to make the save and Friedel's; because it is the perfect opportunity to compare him to Superman.
they were both tasty, brad's looked a bit more spectacular (especially since he struck the ball almost as it crossed the line) because of where in the net he made the save.