I know why you're here.
You were thinking to yourself "Gee, I wonder how Newcastle did against AZ Alkmaar in their last 16 match of the UEFA Cup?" You're in luck. I'm about to tell you.
THEY KICKED ARSE, THAT'S HOW!! Well, okay. The final score was 4-2, and when you're playing a two-leg international tie and give up two away goals, there's always work to be done. But to score FOUR goals is something that we Toon supporters haven't seen for a while, and it was delightful to watch. (Not really watch. I did my best to keep track with live updates via the internet.) Martins scores two, Dyer another, and an own goal, which easily could have gone to Martins as well.
With Duff coming back to normal and playing well, Dyer playing with pace and intelligence, and Martins continuing to sting goals past clueless keepers, this team can really go places. The pairing of Martins and Sibs is really gelling, and honestly, the arrival of Michael Owen back to fitness in the coming months will only make it better. However, sometimes you think that it will be hard finding room for him when we've got our offense firing on all cylinders.
Of course, Titus Shambles had a few awful problems again, as always, but this time we really cant blame Mr Roeder for playing him since the giant Onyewu is inelligible in European matches. But every game, Shambles continues to show his ineptitude.
In other news, Beckham is injured, both teams from last year's final are OUT of the Champions League (Arsenal and Barcelona), and apparently Man Utd is going to win the treble. The more days pass, the more I start to think this is true, as much as I hate to say it. But let's take a look who's left in the Champs League.
Bayern Munich
AC Milan
Manchester United
PSV Eindhoven
Liverpool
Chelsea
Roma
Valencia
Bayern and AC could give the English teams some tough times, but it looks like a toss up from where I'm sitting. For anyone who wasn't paying attention (shame on you), Bayern scored in the 10th second of their game, the fasted goal in CL history, and their keeper, Oliver Kahn looked more like Skeletor than ever as he celebrated their courageous victory. AC needed extra time against celtic to finish them off, and Valencia beat up on Inter Milan in more ways than one, finishing off their opponents with some serious fisticuffs after the final whistle blew. Those crazy Europeans. Manchester has been playing sublimely lately, but Chelsea is always a strong European team. I'd love to see Bayern make it to the finals, though, just so we can have more games played at the beautiful Allianz Arena (there's the architecture lesson for this post.)
I can't figure out how to make links work on a Mac for this thing, so I'll add some photos at the bottom.
In other news, Mrs. Architectureandfootball and I wasted 10 bucks on the MegaMillions Lotto on Tuesday. Damn truckdrivers taking all my money.
