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#3876
CrazyRah

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Toivonen is no Ibrahimovic, but he's a striker with a respectable record; 61 goals out of 139 appearances for PSV Eindhoven, and 10 from 20 so far for Rennes. Now, if he gets injured, Sweden would be in real trouble; can you imagine Elmander starting? Brr.

 

After watching Zenit vs Monaco in the Champions League, I'm starting to think that's just how the game is played in Russia.

 

In clubs Toivonen is decent but in the national team I actually rather have Elmander and let everyone else at least try to score. Toivonen is at best a lucky disaster and worst a nightmare to watch. 8 goals in 40 matches or something hardly make me have any faith in Toivonen. We could've actually for once called Guidetti to the national team now once he's back from 2 years of nightmares.  Sweden got options but unfortunate circumstances have made most of them become unavailable for the games where they could be tested so when we do need them they are fresh but with little national team experience.

 

Edit: Swedish media is now reporting that Toivonen is injured thanks to him scoring so maybe we'll see who'll play in a few days  :P



#3877
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Ooh, I forgot about Guidetti. He hasn't had, well, any game time at all, but when he did, he was very decent for Feyenoord, and probably should have stayed there. I guess Sweden's coach is just waiting for him to get more game time.



#3878
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Wales vs Bosnia ended 0-0, but it was one of those 0-0s that was better than the scoreline suggests; both teams were enterprising and had plenty of chances, and only some misfiring finishing and great goalkeeping prevented goals from being scored. Bale looked a bit frustrated that his national team isn't like Real Madrid. Remarkably, Wales now top Group B with 4 points, 1 ahead of Belgium, who obliterated Andorra 6-0.

 

Kazakhstan went up an early goal against Netherlands, and for a while it looked like van der Wiel was going to have learn the hard way to keep his mouth shut, before goals from Huntelaar, Afellay and a van Persie penalty saved further embarrassment for Guus Hiddink. Italy unconvincingly beat Azerbaijan 2-1, with Chiellini bagging all three goals. That's not a typo; he opened the scoring for Italy, then scored an own-goal, then capped off a wild night with the winner, giving a whole new meaning to "Man of the Match." Czech Republic beat Turkey 2-1, and Iceland continued their good form, following up their win over Turkey with a 3-0 win over Latvia.

 

Not a lot of interesting games tomorrow, but Poland vs Germany could be a feisty encounter between neighbours.

 

Aside from the qualifiers, "Mad Dog" Suarez is back for Uruguay, setting up a Saudi Arabia own-goal in a 1-1 friendly draw. Also, Roy Keane shaved his beard. Spoilsport.



#3879
Kimosabe

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I didnt see the match as i had more important things to do (party) and i generally dont care about these small interlands, I heard that the Netherlands were horrible.. Only with effort winning against number 100plus and as a reward the so called big players got the day off.. This team really needs to get its act together..
Meanwhile Iceland doing fantastic, if we lose.to them it will be very hard to qualify.

And now i will.stop because i am on my phone and i cant use it for ****..

#3880
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Nothing interesting today. Nothing at all. Nope.

 

Just Poland beating Germany 2-0... ...wait, WHAT?!

 

Germany was on Poland like white on rice; 67% possession, 29 shots to 5. Yet their failure to find the finishing touch came back to bite them as Milik capitalised on a Neuer error to head the opener. Stout defending and excellent goalkeeping from Szczesny did the rest to keep Germany at bay, then Mila scored from a Lewandowski pass to seal Germany's fate. Damn. First Spain, now Germany. Who says the qualifiers are the boring part of these competitions?

There were also friendlies played; Brazil beat Argentina 2-0 in Beijing, with Atletico Mineiro striker Diego Tardelli scoring both. Just a note on Tardelli: he has just 8 caps for Brazil, and he made just 50 club appearances outside Brazil in total, only 13 of which were in Europe. Basically, while big names like Neymar and Messi struggled, with the latter limply messing up a spot kick, this guy's about as "out of nowhere" as you can get. Also, France, who don't have to play qualifiers, beat Portugal 2-1, who do.

 

Edit: Whoops, forgot to preview the next fixtures. Luxembourg vs Spain, Estonia vs England, Sweden vs Liechtenstein.


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#3881
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Bend it like... ...Rooney? No, that doesn't sound right at all, I apologise. England had 77% of possession and 25 shots, but struggled to break down Estonia. Only a Klavan red card and a curling free-kick from Rooney got England out of jail. England already look good to qualify unbeaten, and the response on the internet is... ...pretty muted. Still a few complaints, but mostly "a win is a win"... ...this is progress! You see, I've long believed that England fans are going through the 5 Stages of Grief. Denial ("Woo! We're going to win the World Cup!"), Anger ("What? We didn't win? Anger!!!") and Bargaining ("If only we had Fabio Capello we would win!") are long gone; I think they're now in the transition phase between Depression and Acceptance. So please, if you see an England fan, give him or her a hug.

After a less-than-auspicious night in Zilina, Slovakia, Casillas handed his gloves to de Gea and his armband to Iniesta, in what may well be an anti-climatic end to his international career. True, it's only Luxembourg, but a 4-0 win is still a 4-0 win, a clean sheet is still a clean sheet, and if it continues on like this, Spanish fans would go torches and pitchforks on del Bosque if he ever picks Casillas again. Silva was brilliant, scoring a great goal and providing for Paco Alcacer's goal. Débutantes Bernat and Rodrigo combined for the fourth goal, hinting at a promising future. Costa finally scored as well, but Spain continue to struggle to get the best out of him.

Elsewhere, Moldova held Russia to a 1-1 draw. Elmander started for Sweden, and predictably, he didn't do much, except missing, fouling and getting fouled. Instead, it fell to Zengin and Durmaz to provide the goals to beat Liechtenstein 2-0. Slovakia beat Belarus 3-1 in a well-contested game to stay perfect and top of Group C ahead of Spain.

Next up, upset radars will be on high alert as in-form Iceland host so far sub-par Netherlands at hostile Reykjavik. Bosnia vs Belgium could also be interesting.



#3882
CrazyRah

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My national team might right now hardly be able to do anything right but at least we've not completely screwed up yet. 2-0 against the supposed doormat of the group doesn't earn high praise but at least we didn't do a "Russia" and only get 1-1 against Moldova at home. That's a result that will really bother their chances unless either Austria or Sweden fall into the same pit. As mentioned before Sweden got options behind Zlatan.. they've just not been given the chance by our oh so delightful coach and until they are 36 will probably be considered future material..

Forsberg has proven with his handful of national caps that he already deserve a spot on the team and maybe when things actually matter against bigger dogs he'll get some time on the pitch aswell. No complaints with him so far! 

 

All in all we Swedes are getting more and more like the English and right now anything but a disaster can be considred a success. The days when we actually could field 11 players on a pitch that would at least concern the opponents are years gone and the future is not at the moment the brightest but there is still hope!  Going to echo the general sentiment over here right now and that is that it could be worse and that so far results have gone mostly our way.

Montenegro away next game can end right about every possible way and by then Ibrahimovic should be in terrific form again and have healed.



#3883
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Yeah, I think if there was a blessing in disguise in Zlatan getting injured, it did kind of force the midfielders to step up to the plate instead of just passing to Zlatan and forking out the popcorn. Zengin and Durmaz played well, as I mentioned, and Forsberg was one who stood out over the two games.

 

Getting more like the English, eh? So which stage of grief would you say you're at? Denial ("We don't suck, don't say that!"), Anger ("That sucks! We shouldn't be sucking like that!"), Bargaining ("If only we did this and that, we wouldn't suck so bad!"), Depression ("Okay, we suck.") or Acceptance ("If we're going to suck, we're going to suck gloriously!")?



#3884
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I think we're somewhere between Depression and Acceptance right now. Went through Anger and Bargaining during the last qualification when Portugal ended up in our way. I think we are now realising that we really do suck and that we might have to accept that we really do suck a lot and that we might suck even more in a few years.



#3885
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And that is it. We won't make it to the EC next year...

Losing 2-0 to Iceland....



#3886
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Question: is it really an upset when you see it coming? A predictably confident and energized Iceland have beaten an equally predictably lethargic and disinterested Netherlands 2-0. Netherlands had 75% possession, but the rest of the attacking stats were more equal; 7 shots for Iceland to 10, 3 to 2 on target. Iceland were disciplined in defence and more effective in possession, breaking forward and threatening Netherlands practically every time they had the ball. Swansea midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson had an excellent game, scoring both goals, first from a penalty. Meanwhile, van Persie played like he had concrete for legs, and Robben was a frustrated figure throughout. Maybe it's the 3°C Reykjavik chill. Netherlands are now 6 points behind joint leaders Iceland and Czech Republic, who beat Kazakhstan 4-2.

Elsewhere, Italy were once again unconvincing as they beat Malta 1-0; Pelle scored the winner, and both teams picked up a red card each. Looks like Group H is going to come down to them vs red-hot Croatia, who pummelled Azerbaijan 6-0. Bosnia-Herzegovina vs Belgium ended in a well-contested 1-1 draw. Ten-man Wales held out to a 2-1 win over Cyprus to keep their Group B lead, one point ahead of surprise chasers Israel, who beat Andorra 4-1.

This action-packed and upset-filled international break is almost over! Germany will look to bounce back against Republic of Ireland, while their conquerors Poland will welcome Scotland. Denmark vs Portugal might not seem like a potential upset, but at this point, let's just assume anything can happen.



#3887
Kaiser Arian XVII

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I really want to see Serbia team in action. With all those stars and young talents they should do great.

 

I could say they would be invincible if they had Kosovo and Montenegro in their territory... or even Bosnia and Croatia!



#3888
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And that is it. We won't make it to the EC next year...

Losing 2-0 to Iceland....

 

With the expanded 24-team competition, third-placed teams can still qualify, either through having the best record among third-placed teams, or through qualification play-offs. So there is still hope... ...kinda.

 

I really want to see Serbia team in action. With all those stars and young talents they should do great.

 

Serbia have a bunch of stars who ply their trade all over Europe, but their qualification haven't gotten off the the best of starts, drawing 1-1 with Armenia on Saturday. They host Albania tomorrow.



#3889
CrazyRah

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Not in the least suprised about Iceland doing well. They were super close making it to Brazil this summer and they've taken giant leaps forward with their "golden generation" It also does them great to have Swedens old coach in charge, a man that managed to get Sweden to 5 championships in a row. If there's a man that can make 11 players act like they were a thousand then it's him.



#3890
Kaiser Arian XVII

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Germany's win became a draw in extra time! lol



#3891
Fidite Nemini

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Germany sucks leprechaun lucky charms!

 

They were in world leading form during the WC, but right now they just suck. Unadultured, distilled suck. Hoped Germany would lose and then go to miss out the EC.


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#3892
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An international break that delivered so much just had to finish with one more surprise; Germany struggled to break down Republic of Ireland until Toni Kroos scored in the 71st minute. It then looked like Germany might just cruise to victory, until John O'Shea stunned the World Champions with literally the last kick of the game, at 4 minutes into stoppage time. Germany are now 4th in Group D with 4 points, 3 adrift of leaders Poland and Republic of Ireland. Damn. I don't want this to end!

In the other big Group D match, Poland and Scotland played a fiercely-contested 2-2 draw; Poland went up with an early lead, before Scotland stormed back to lead 2-1, before Poland equalised. Elsewhere, Ronaldo also got into the super-late-goal act, as he headed the winner in the 5th minute of stoppage time to see Portugal beat Denmark 1-0. In yet another upset of this crazy international break, 71st-ranked Northern Ireland shocked 14th-ranked Greece 2-0 in Athens; Northern Ireland are now surprise leaders of Group F with 9 points out of 9. Remarkably, the combined record of the UK teams (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) in the qualifiers so far is now 9 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss, and all 4 teams still have strong chances of qualifying.

Serbia vs Albania was abandoned after someone flew an Albanian flag over the pitch with a remote-controlled drone, causing scuffles when a Serbian player went to grab it. The fans went nuts, prompting deployment of riot police and, weirdly, a Cher song to calm things down. It was crazy. It was chaos. It was 0-0 after 42 minutes.

Overall, great international break. Lots of action and upsets. Hoping this is the sign of things to come. Next, domestic leagues are back in action. No real standout games, which might be just as well; gives us time to catch our breaths.



#3893
Kimosabe

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An international break that delivered so much just had to finish with one more surprise; Germany struggled to break down Republic of Ireland until Toni Kroos scored in the 71st minute. It then looked like Germany might just cruise to victory, until John O'Shea stunned the World Champions with literally the last kick of the game, at 4 minutes into stoppage time. Germany are now 4th in Group D with 4 points, 3 adrift of leaders Poland and Republic of Ireland. Damn. I don't want this to end!

In the other big Group D match, Poland and Scotland played a fiercely-contested 2-2 draw; Poland went up with an early lead, before Scotland stormed back to lead 2-1, before Poland equalised. Elsewhere, Ronaldo also got into the super-late-goal act, as he headed the winner in the 5th minute of stoppage time to see Portugal beat Denmark 1-0. In yet another upset of this crazy international break, 71st-ranked Northern Ireland shocked 14th-ranked Greece 2-0 in Athens; Northern Ireland are now surprise leaders of Group F with 9 points out of 9. Remarkably, the combined record of the UK teams (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) in the qualifiers so far is now 9 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss, and all 4 teams still have strong chances of qualifying.

Serbia vs Albania was abandoned after someone flew an Albanian flag over the pitch with a remote-controlled drone, causing scuffles when a Serbian player went to grab it. The fans went nuts, prompting deployment of riot police and, weirdly, a Cher song to calm things down. It was crazy. It was chaos. It was 0-0 after 42 minutes.

Let me just call it out now; the final of the EC will be Iceland - Ireland

It is always great to see such surprises but this is getting crazy, if this goes on for a while we might actually have some big countries unable to qualify

 

It wasn't just an Albanian flag, it was the flag of Great-Albania, which includes Kosovo, which Serbia considers part of their country but where the Albanese population declared independence that Serbia refuses to acknowledge

 

Considering what happends at the start of this vid and at the 1:40 mark I say they made the right decision

http://www.zie.nl/vi...ne/kpazil7f4d2f

 

O, and meanwhile in Dutch football, our manager got fired..

After a good start the last matches were horrible (losing 5-2, 6-1 and barely winning in the cup to amateurs) but this is, again, the wrong decision.. If they were to fire him they should have done so in the summer break since everybody knew this was coming.. Now another unexperienced youthcoach has to take over since we don't have any time and money to find a good, experienced one.. Plus, in the summer, the coach and his assistant (who is also fired) bought/loaned a lot of new player via their own network so all those players might start to feel mighty unwelcome all of a sudden..


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#3894
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Let me just call it out now; the final of the EC will be Iceland - Ireland

It is always great to see such surprises but this is getting crazy, if this goes on for a while we might actually have some big countries unable to qualify

 

It wasn't just an Albanian flag, it was the flag of Great-Albania, which includes Kosovo, which Serbia considers part of their country but where the Albanese population declared independence that Serbia refuses to acknowledge

 

Considering what happends at the start of this vid and at the 1:40 mark I say they made the right decision

http://www.zie.nl/vi...ne/kpazil7f4d2f

 

O, and meanwhile in Dutch football, our manager got fired..

After a good start the last matches were horrible (losing 5-2, 6-1 and barely winning in the cup to amateurs) but this is, again, the wrong decision.. If they were to fire him they should have done so in the summer break since everybody knew this was coming.. Now another unexperienced youthcoach has to take over since we don't have any time and money to find a good, experienced one.. Plus, in the summer, the coach and his assistant (who is also fired) bought/loaned a lot of new player via their own network so all those players might start to feel mighty unwelcome all of a sudden..

 

I think the likes of Spain, Germany and Netherlands are all thinking; "Thank Goodness for the 24-team tournament!" Meanwhile, England fans might still be complaining, but the England team themselves are probably thinking; "Thank Goodness we're not part of all that madness!"

 

The initial reports didn't specify which Albanian flag, and the photos I saw on the day didn't really show beyond the fact that it definitely wasn't the Albanian flag. But yeah, the more details emerged, the nastier it got. Greater Albania is irredentist nonsense that is deeply offensive to Serbians, and is at best reckless provocation, and at worst political extremism, neither of which have any place in football.

 

Meanwhile, apparently Serbian fans were chanting "ubi, ubi, ubi siptara," with "ubi" meaning "kill" and "siptara" being a derogatory word for Albanians, similar to the "N" word to refer to black people. And now wild rumours are flying around about how it was the brother of the Albanian PM who flew the drone. Basically, it's a colossal mess. The referee did the right thing in stopping the match, and UEFA need to come down and come down hard on this. So far, they've charged both FAs for the incident; Albanian FA for the initial provocation, and Serbian FA for the subsequent brawl and pitch invasion.

 

You forget; there is a certain Scottish dude with something to prove sitting on the "Unemployed" bench at the moment. Unlikely, of course, but who knows? Didn't Steve McLaren used to coach FC Twente?



#3895
CrazyRah

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I genuinly don't think for a second that we will see any of the larger nations miss out on EC. Sure a few are of to rocky starts but there are so many games left and the smaller nations that have started well are far more dependant on their stars being super fresh and since these nations didn't have a world cup to play or went out very early they just are in a more fresh condition right now. The only nation that might have to work a little bit more than the others will probably be the Netherlands but outside of them all the others should by decent margin make it. With 24 teams being part of the EC it's possibly harder to not make it than making it which really makes this entire qualification process incredibly dull.



#3896
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Breath caught, let's go. Manchester City 4-1 Tottenham was a lot more competitive that the scoreline suggests, with both teams often looking dangerous going forward. Unfortunately, personal Hells exist, and for Tottenham defenders, it came in the nightmarish form of Sergio Aguero. He was their ruthless tormentor throughout, converting 2 penalties, one of which he forced himself, scoring 2 other goals from open play, and made Fedirico Fazio see red and march. Both keepers also saved a penalty each. Lampard had yet another vintage game, until injury prematurely ended it.

In a rematch of the FA Cup final, Arsenal drew 2-2 with Hull. Two things come to mind which I can't believe I would be thinking at the beginning of the season: 1) I think it's time to take Mertesacker's career out the back and euthanize it, and 2) thank Goodness for Danny Welbeck. Meanwhile, over at Southampton, we may have witnessed the greatest own-goal ever scored, as Sunderland's Santiago Vergini volleyed a beauty past his own keeper into the bottom corner. So good it deserves some kind of an award... ...I'm thinking a pistol, gold-plated, pointing downwards at the recipient's foot. Southampton went on to annihilate Sunderland 8-0. Chelsea beat Crystal Palace 2-1 after both sides collected a red card. Newcastle finally won a game, beating Leicester 1-0.

In La Liga, Barcelona and Real Madrid record comforable victories, with Ronaldo bagging a brace and Messi drawing within 2 of the La Liga record. Over in Serie A, Roma closed the gap to 1 point after a 3-0 win over Chievo, while Juventus drew 1-1 with Sassuolo.


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#3897
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Another "Holy Crap, did you see that?" moment starring Liverpool - they seem to be getting a bit of a knack for that. QPR vs Liverpool was, for the most part, pretty dry. Then in the 67th minute, Richard Dunne scores his 10th own goal of his career, and it looked like Liverpool might just cruise to a fairly routine, if uninspiring, victory. Then Eduardo Vargas equalized in the 87th minute, and all Hell broke loose; Coutinho made it 2-1, then Vargas equalised again seconds after the restart. Then, just as it looked like it might finish 2-2, Stephen Caulker scored an own-goal at 5 minutes into stoppage time to finish QPR 2-3 Liverpool. To paraphrase a certain former manager; Premier League, bloody Hell.

In La Liga, Sevilla beat Elche 2-0 to somehow find themselves sandwiched between Barcelona and Real Madrid at the top of the table. Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid beat Espanyol 2-0, while Valencia suffered their first loss of the season at Deportivo de La Coruna. Both are now on 17 points, 1 behind Real. Over in Serie A, Verona defender Rafael Marques pitched his own greatest own-goal contender with a spectacular sliced left-foot effort past his own keeper, as AC Milan beats Verona 3-1. Meanwhile, Inter Milan vs Napoli was similar to QPR vs Liverpool above; fairly dry for most of the game, until chaos erupted in the final 10 minutes to finish 2-2. Serie A, are you trying to copy the Premier League? Finally, in France, the PSG era seems to be over as Marseille won their eighth game in a row to open a 7-point gap at the top of Ligue 1.

Champions League is back! Roma vs Bayern Munich. Barcelona vs Ajax. Liverpool vs Real Madrid. Galatasaray vs Dortmund. Aderlecht vs Arsenal. Juicy.



#3898
Kaiser Arian XVII

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The best Leagues in Europe belong to England and Italy right now. More than 7 teams can be 1st at the end of the season (with good quality matches). They're not like Germany or Spain where only 2 or 3 teams can do the same.



#3899
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The best Leagues in Europe belong to England and Italy right now. More than 7 teams can be 1st at the end of the season (with good quality matches). They're not like Germany or Spain where only 2 or 3 teams can do the same.

 

Premier League and Serie A are usually competitive, but I'm not so sure about this season. Chelsea look unstoppable, and this year's Serie A already looks like it's going to be between Juventus and Roma. Still, competitive or not, they both seem to have a knack of throwing up many cracking games this season, so at least it will be entertaining. Watching Messi and Ronaldo tearing apart some lower-rung side and Bayern Munich bulldozing everyone in Germany gets repetitive after a while.

 

Speaking of which, El Clasico is coming this Saturday.


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#3900
CrazyRah

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2-2 Against WBA is really about expected since United still need a lot of time to work out massive issues in the play but the result is for now less important. Now to get to the thing that made the date get marked in every calender from the coldest parts of the arctic to the most southern parts of South Africa. From the most western point in Alaska to the most eastern part of Asia. Fellaini did something good in the United jersey and I'm not sure if it actually happened or if it's some kind of dream.

 

Now if he could do that a little more often it wouldn't hurt!