A Birthday Gift Fit for A King: Liverpool 3 - 1 Manchester United

Kenny Dalglish, Coach of Liverpool, turned 60 on Friday March 4, 2011, but he couldn't unwrap the gift he most wanted until Sunday when his team beat Manchester United, 3-1, at Anfield. It was a hat trick from Dirk Kuyt that gave Liverpool the win, with United's only goal coming in stoppage time from Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez.

When the new American owners of Liverpool replaced Roy Hodgson with Kenneth Dalglish this past January, the move was well received by the Liverpool fans who had been clamoring for the return of King Kenny, but many observers wondered if Dalglish's long absence from the coaching ranks of top flight English football would be a hurdle preventing any real progress by Liverpool either on the pitch or on the table. Dalglish made his return to the Liverpool sideline on January 9th, when the team lost 1-0 to Manchester United in the FA Cup. Dalglish's first Premiere League match was against Blackpool, which Liverpool lost 3-1. The new Dalglish Era at Liverpool was off to a rocky start, but things turned around, and coming into today's match with Manchester United, Liverpool, under Dalglish's coaching, has picked up 14 points in the Premier League, only losing one more match, which was to Wigan last week.

Now that the squad and the Dalglish transfers, Andy Carroll and Luis Suárez, had several matches under their collective belt, Sunday's match with Manchester United would be a good a moment to measure how far the new Liverpool had come since their FA loss to Sir Alex Ferguson's side back in January.

The match started a bit slow, but Liverpool, led by Suárez, Raul Meireles, and Dirk Kuyt, went on to dominate the match, showing that Dalglish still has what it takes to coach in the EPL.

Liverpool's first goal came in the 34th minute after a beautiful dribble by Suárez set up Kuyt's first goal:

Weekly Houston Dynamo Roundup for March 4th

With only two weeks left till opening day for the Houston Dynamo, who host Philadelphia Union on Saturday March 19th, time to start up a weekly roundup focusing on my local club.

The Dynamo have been out of town for the past couple weeks, playing preseason matches in Phoenix and Orlando, but are currently back in Houston and will be playing the SMU team on Saturday at 11:00 am over at the Carl Lewis Field. This match is open to season ticket holders only.

So without further adieu, here's a look at the Dynamo headlines from the past couple of weeks:

Dynamo bring back Dominic Oduro - Houston Chronicle

Construction begins on Houston Dynamo Stadium - Houston Dynamo website

Dynamo renew English & Spanish radio partnerships for 2011 season - Dynamo Theory

Paul Dalglish to coach Dynamo Juniors program in Austin, central Texas - Houston Dynamo Website

Bobby Boswell is a leader in the Dynamo Defense - Houston Chronicle

A promising rookie gives Houston Dynamo and MLS the royal treatment - New York Times

Guidebook: The 2011 Houston Dynamo - Goal

Kansas City to play Houston Dynamo in US Open - The Kansas City Star

Get To Know Dynamo Academy & U-17 USMNT Goalkeeper Fernando Pina - SB Nation/Houston

Dynamo falls to FC Dallas in shoot-out at Disney World - KHOU

Green Bank joins select group financing Dynamo Stadium - Press Release

Certain single game tickets & special ticket packages for Houston Dynamo 2011 season now available - Houston Dynamo website

Houston Dynamo acquire defender Jermaine Taylor - USA Today

Paul Dalglish on The Orange Slice - 1560 The Game - Houston, Texas

On Saturday October 16, 2010, former Houston Dynamo player and former coach of the Tampa Bay Rowdies joined The Orange Slice on 1560 The Game to discuss soccer in the United States and the change of ownership at Liverpool F.C.

Here's the audio:

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Being Forward

-It's official, Joseph Ngweyna has officially signed with SK Austria Karnten.

http://www.socceramerica.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticleHomePage&art_aid=25283

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/soc/5472857.html

http://www.soccer365.com/mls/story_22108121756.php

So, with just less then 2 weeks to go before preseason for the Dynamo, a team that won the MLS Cup last year thanks in large part to its depth now finds itself shortfooted up front. In addition to Ngweyna, Paul Dalglish has parted ways with the Dynamo and Nate Jaqua is working hard to sign with a European side.

Not all is hopeless for the Dynamo and its fans though, Dominic Kinnear is a great judge of young talent, and the Dynamo now have some more room to play with under the salary cap.

- Officiating and the quality thereof has a been a huge issue this past season and, not surprisingly, that includes Italy. Without going into some of those questionable penalities, since the start of the current edition of Serie A I've lost track of how many times I've seen 4 and 5 minutes of stoppage time in games where bigger clubs are struggling to get a draw or win. Not surprisingly, the league chief is defending the officials in Italy:

http://www.sportinglife.com/football/overseas/italy/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=international_feed/08/01/21/SOCCER_Ita-Referees.html

- Speaking of Italy, Roma Ultras again indulged in needless violence this past weekend - three Catania supporters were stabbed outside of the Stadio Olimpico. Thankfully, Roma coach Luciano Spalletti is criticizing this stupid act of violence:

http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=556407

http://www.sportinglife.com/football/overseas/italy/news/story_get.dor?STORY_NAME=international_feed/08/01/21/SOCCER_Ita-Violence_Nightlead.html&TEAMHD=italy

On a final note, the positive attributes of soccer in this crazy world is evidenced again, FIFA has decided that Iraq will play host to three World Cup qualifying matches to be held in Dubai:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/soc/5474058.html