Ligue 1 Is Exciting

You could look this all up on the internet but why do that? Turn to Incisive Pass for the stuff you could get elsewhere!

NASL

There was no Scorpions game but NASL soldiered on anyway. The Scorpions dropped their home opener last week, but there is plenty of time to get back into this thing. Plenty.

Raúl scored for the Cosmos on a cross from former San Antonio Scorpions winger Walter Restrepo. Yes, the Real Madrid legend opened his account in the US. As I said, there is complete parity in this, the pseudo 2nd division. Watch this space. The NASL season is still young and there really is no telling who is even close to good. And really, at this level there is less “good” than there is fortunate (with injuries) and monied (ahem Cosmos).

EPL

In the eee peee ellll Chelsea nearly let slip their absolute choke hold of first place when they regained their grip in the 83rd minute against QPR. They remain seven points clear of Arsenal with a game in hand. (That means they have only played 31 while the Gunners have played 32).

The real fun is following the European races in second through fourth and the relegation battle at the bottom. Man Utd throttled struggling Man City 4-2 and leapt to a close third behind Arsenal. City are barely hanging on behind them at 61 points with Liverpool playing well just four points behind.

On the bottom, only four points seperate 16 (Awful Sunderland) and 20 ( Leicester City). Given the way that Crystal Palace eviscerated Sunderland last weekend, it is hard to doubt the Black Cats from completely dissolving down the stretch.

La Liga

All things behing equal, I’d rather have a two point lead at this point than otherwise. Listen to everyone else tell it and Barca practically lost La Liga with their come-from-ahead draw at Sevilla. Sure, the Blaugrana have to play at the Vicente Calderon (Atletico Madrid), have a Copa Del Rey to play (Real Madrid do not) but 2 points ahead is still solid. Chalk it up to the incessant Luis Enrique bashing.

Luis (El Chomp) Suarez is playing well, but had a few too many chances go wide. The match was Sevilla mostly taking advantage of their few chances than Barca being complacent.

Ligue 1

The Uuuuughghg might be the most fun to watch the rest of the way. PSG have overcome their lacksadaiscal form early in the season and vaulted to first place. This on the back of some nice results including an epic battle against rivals Marsaille. PSG are first on 62 points and sixth place St. Etienne are on 56. PSG and Monaco have Champions League to play. Oh and Zlatan begins his 4-match suspension next week. It should be fun.

I usually don’t pay too much attention to the French League, other than to see if Zlatan did something ridiculous, ¹ but I likely will have to spend more time here this weekend.

Other Leagues

MLS is just beginning and there haven’t been any really amazing results. David Villa has two goals for expansion side NYCFC and Kaká has three for fellow n00b Orlando City. That’s what everyone cares about, no?

Bundesliga is all about seeing if Bayern can not blow a 10 point lead with 7 games left.

Serie A is similarly an excercize in concentration for Juventus who hold a 12-point advantage on Lazio. Speaking of I Biancazzurri, who would have thought they’d be the Rome team in second this year?