Your Friday Goals for March 8, 2013

The 2013 MLS season has started, Real Madrid has bumped Manchester United from the Champions League, and David Beckham road the bench for PSG, it's time for your Friday Goals.

More after the jump:

Your Friday Goals - February 22, 2013

Another week of European Nights, another bad outing by Arsenal, Carlos Ruiz is back in MLS, it's time for your Friday goals:

More after the Jump:

[VIDEO] Gus Johnson's Champions League Debut

On Wednesday February 13, 2013, Gus Johnson made his Fox Soccer Channel debut by doing the play-by-play in the network's broadcast of the Champions League match between Real Madrid and Manchester United. The match ended in a 1-1 draw and on the whole, I think Gus Johnson did a good job on the broadcast. Was he perfect? No, but then who is, especially their first time calling a game in a sport that they're still new too.

I admit that I did not watch the match, rather I listened to it via SiriusXM FC, which aired the audio from the FSC broadcast. That makes my experience a bit different from those who watched it, but I was able to keep up with what's going on fairly well with just the audio.

I'm not in the mood the debate the pluses and minuses of what FOX is doing in its efforts to groom Gus Johnson for its upcoming World Cup finals coverage. There's been plenty of that lately, much of it irrational, insular, and disconnected from the realities of the business of sports in the United States. I'll make no bones about the fact that I've long wanted Gus Johnson to start covering soccer and I'm happy that FOX has made this move to get him into the booth for high level soccer matches.

So, without further adieu, here's the highlights of Gus Johnson's Champions League debut:

Mourinho & Ronaldo Throwing Funny Gang Signs at the Airport

The final Clasico of the 2010-2011 European club football season took place yesterday in Barcelona where Barcelona and Real Madrid battled to a 1-1 draw in the second leg of the Champions League semifinal. In the end, Barcelona beat Real Madrid with a 3-1 aggregate to advance to the Champions League Final, which will occur on Saturday May 28th at Wembley Stadium in London. Later today we'll find out whether it'll be Manchester United or Schalke 04 that will face Barcelona at Wembley. Manchester United currently leads that match up with its 2-0 victory at Schalke last week.

Yesterday's Clasico was not as entertaining as last week's Clasico where Messi picked up a brace, Pepe picked up a controversial red card, and Jose Mourinho was ejected from the technical area. Therefore, it's not surprising that the Spanish press has been focused on the interesting hand gestures that both Ronaldo and Mourinho made at the airport following yesterday's match. The hand gestures, which you can see in the video below, are not really funny gang signs, rather it is a Spanish hand gesture for: We got robbed. Funny that it was a couple guys from Portugal throwing this Spanish hand sign.

Lionel Messi's Brace Gives Barcelona the Lead in Champions League Clasico

Football fans have been treated to three Clasicos in the month of April, with one more left to go in May. First, Barcelona and Real Madrid played to a draw in league play and then Real Madrid took bragging rights by beating Barcelona in the Copa del Rey. On Wednesday, it was the first leg of the Champions League Clasico as the two top teams from Spain met in the European semifinals. For a good chunk of the match, it looked like the teams were battling to a 0-0 draw, but then Lionel Messi went and did what he's been doing all season, he scored a couple goals giving Barcelona a 2-0 win. The teams meet again at Camp Nou on Tuesday May 3rd to see who goes to Wembley for the Champions League final.






Bonus video, Jose Mourinho gets ejected from the technical area:

[VIDEO] Peter Crouch Scores & Gattuso Slaps & Headbutts Joe Jordan

For several summers, Tottenham Hotspur was often touted by the pundits as a pre-season favorite to break into the top four in the English Premier League, no matter how poorly the team had fallen off in the previous season. Well Tottenham finally finished in the top four last season, and are trying to prove last season's finish was not a fluke. In addition to currently being fourth on the EPL table, Tottenham picked up an important away win against Milan in the knockout stage of the Champions League.

The Spurs win came courtesy of a lovely break away by Aaron Lennon who crossed the ball over to a waiting Peter Crouch:



Meanwhile, the British footballing press has gone into self-righteous indignation mode because Milan's Gennaro "Mad Dog" Gattuso slapped and headbutted Tottenham coach Joe Jordan. Jordan apparently called Gattuso a "fucking Italian bastard." Still on your high horse British press?

This week I was honored to be a guest on the Minute+10 Podcast to discuss some Serie A.

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