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Barcelona and Olympique Lyon played yesterday. They reached a 2-2 draw. This sealed Barcelona’s hopes of reaching round two. Lyon, however, has to beat Rangers in two weeks. Iniesta put the first goal in for Barcelona in the third minute, to make it 1-0. Juninho canceled out the early lead. Messi later scored to give Barcelona the 2-1 lead, and it looked as though they would get the victory. Juninho, however, put in another goal with eleven minutes left. The equalizer gave Lyon a much needed point in the standings, to help them with their search to move on. The match facts would indicate a victory for Barcelona with 63% possession and a 22-17 fouls in favor of Barcelona.

To keep them in the hunt, Liverpool needs a win at SC Porto.The victory would also secure manager Rafael Benitez’s job for one more game. Liverpool is also hoping for a victory of Besiktas over Marseille.

Shakhtar Donetsk will secure their passage into the next round if they defeat Celtic.

AC Milan will advance to the round of 16 with a draw at Benfica on Wednesday.

Barcelona and Lyon will be playin on Tuesday. Barcelona needs a tie or a win to stay in the competition, while Lyon needs a win or they will face early elimination. Barcelona will be without striker Theirry Henry. Henry is the victim of back and groin pains. He will be replaced by the young striker Bojan Krkic. Lyon may be without their 19y.o. star foward, Karim Benzema. He was carried off on a stretcher, during Staurday’s game. He is Lique 1′s leading scorer.
AC Milan needs just a tie to have a definite spot in the next 16. If AC tie against Benefica, they will be guaranteed a spot with a game left. Celtic or Shakhtar Donetsk, the two teams behind AC in Group D, would not be able to catch them in the standings if AC ties.
Liverpool is also look at an early exit. Liverpool will be playing FC Porto. Liverpool must win the next two matches against FC Porto and Marseille to have a spot in the final 16. Liverpool players are not concentrating on the current crisis presiding over their manager Rafael Benitez, and his future. Captain Steven Gerrard says that they will have to “blank out” the current issues ocurring behind the scenes.

The Knicks lost to the Cavaliers on Friday night, 106-110.  Zach Randolph had 21 points and 14 rebounds and Eddy Curry added 18 points and 7 rebounds.  The Knicks regained their composure in an exciting win over the feisty Timberwolves, 97-93.  Zach Randolph had 15 points and 10 rebounds and Jamal Crawford added 24 points and 7 assist.  Stephon Marbury scored 17 points and added 7 assists in the win.  Eddy Curry had 14 points.  The Knicks are 1-1 and will play the Denver Nuggets at MSG on Tuesday night at 7:30.

The New York Knicks will open up the season against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday, November 2nd. The first thought would be: How do the Knicks contain such a dominant force in Lebron James? The Knicks have always been good at guarding Lebron James. Last year, Quentin Richardson got under his skin and forced him to shoot outside jumpshots–something he had trouble doing all year. Quentin Richardson is the Knicks best perimeter defender and controversially their best overall defender. The answer to this question is let him shoot: Basically there is no answer. Lebron James can shoot all he wants but he can’t single handedly beat the Knicks. For that reason, I am picking the Knicks to win this, 94-87. The Cavs are coming off a blowout defeat to the Dallas Mavericks at home during the season opener, 92-74. Lebron James was held to 10 points. If the Knicks can focus on the other four nobodys on that team, they can come away with a victory at start off the season 1-0 BABY.

Other scores around the Atlantic:

The Nets beat the Bulls 112-103.

The Raptors beat the Sixers 106-97.

The Knicks beat the Cavs 143-89….Oh, my bad, I was just predicting the inevitable.

The Matchup is as follows:

PG: Daniel Gibson v. Stephon Marbury mhmm….domination

SG: Larry Hughes v. Jamal Crawford

F: Drew Gooden v. Quentin Richardson

F: Lebron James v. Zach Randolph

C: Z. Ilgauskas v. Eddy Curry

FIFA has decided that the world cup will no longer rotate among continents, thus leaving the U.S.’s chances of hosting the cup slim, and for that matter any country in North America of the Caribbean. The 2010 world cup has already been given South Africa to host, and Brazil will host the 2014. The CONCACAF rejected a proposal to hold the 2018 world cup in the U.S. The president of U.S. soccer, Sunil Gulati, said, “FIFA’s decision does not change our own commitment to try to bring the World Cup back to the United States.” There were two leading South American countries bidding for the 2014 world cup, because it had been decided to be held in South America, and these countries were Columbia and Brazil. When Columbia dropped out of the race, it was basically handed to Brazil. It has been said that FIFA has opened a door to have the world cup in England again, for 2018.

There is also a new technology which is going to be tested December, called Goal-Line Technology. It will involve a ball with a computer chip in the surface, to determine the spot of the ball and wheter the ball ahs crossed the plane of the goal.. They tested it in the junior competitions in 2007, and in the Under-17 Cup in Peru, in 2005. They were pleased with the results and will be using the new technology in the next world cup, says FIFA president Sepp Blatter. They, FIFA and UEFA, have rejected video referee. They believe it undermines the authority of the referee and would stop the flow of the game.

Inter Milan has had a great year so far with a record of 9-0-3; nine wins, no losses, and three ties. They are leading Roma in the Serie A one win, or three points. On Saturday the 29th of September, they had a crucial victory over their rival Roma, winning 4-1. But the real question lies ahead, when they play Juventus and Fiorentina. If Inter Milan wins on wednesday, against Genoa, they may secure their lead over Roma by six, with Roms’ premier stiker and captain Francesco Totti out with an ankle injury. Totti was injured in Roma’s victory over AC Milan, 1-0. Inter Milan is also facing a loss, Patrick Viera. He could be out until next year, having been diagnosed with a second degree mi-calf strain. Viera, a midfielder, was just signed in August of 2006, after leaving Juventus because of teir envolvement in a match-fixing scandal. With the hope of Viera returning, Inter will play Genoa on wednesday, in hopes of keeping their chances of the Serie A title in sight.

With the NCAA soccer season winding down. There has been some talk about college basketball. I would like to give you my top three contenders for a national championship. First off I would like to start with Kansas, this powerhouse has been doing well for years
But, never winning the big game. They have had an abundance from pros to come out of that program including Kirk Hinrich, Nick Collison and most recently Julian Wright. Kansas only lost one of there top SIX players from last year. They have returning Brandon Rush there best player who is only a junior, he is defiantly up for player of the year and in my eyes a lock of an All American spot. Also returning Mario Chalmers and Darrell Arthur who are big time scorers. I think Bill Self

Will finally establish himself as a big game coach and take Kansas to the Top of the college basketball world. My next team is The University of North Carolina. Roy Williams

Has the best returning forward in the nation in Tyler Hansborough and also one of the quickest most electrifying guards in the country in Ty Lawson. Coach Williams has had abundant success in the past few years. This year the ACC is very tough but they poise a chance to take it all. My next contender is Georgetown. Georgetown’s coach John Thompson

Has many things to look forward to with 4 returning starters including the nations top big man Roy Hibbert. He is a 7’1 beast in the middles. He finishes everything with such finesse and is truly a lottery pick. They happen sharp shooter Vernon Macklin also coming back. They lost Jeff green so they should be giving up slightly more points but they should prevail in a very tough big east with 5 preseason top 25 teams. Louisville is also very good with Edgar Sosa and Derrick Character. UCONN also has tons of young talent and if they learn to play together could be very dangerous come March.

For more info on the top 25 pre-season poll

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/mensbasketball/usatpoll.htm

The Knicks lost to the Nets in the preseason finale on Friday, 102-86 but I mean, the Sonics also beat the Suns by thirteen last night, so does preseason really mean anything? Eddy Curry and Zach Randolph combined for 31 points and 12 rebounds but it clearly wasn’t enough as the Nets cruised to victory. Surprisingly, with a 76-56 lead in the beginning of the 4th quarter the Nets had their best player, Vince Carter, in the game. Sounds like a desperate team, eh? Jared Jeffries had 2 blocks and 2 rebounds within the opening minutes of the 1st quarter but then bumped knees with the dirty Richard Jefferson, and missed the rest of the game. The MRI revealed he sprained his ankle and his time out is indefinite. The Knicks were missing their top 3 choices at sf, Quentin Richardson, Renaldo Balkman, and Jared Jeffries all due to injury. For the full boxscore, visit:

http://www.nba.com/games/20071026/NJNNYK/boxscore.html

The Knicks open the season on Friday, November 2nd against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Knicks play the Nets tonight in the newly named Izod Center. The starting lineups are as follow:

PG: Stephon Marbury Darrel Armstrong

SG: Jamal Crawford Vince Carter

F: Quentin Richardson Richard Jefferson

F: Zach Randolph Jason Collins

C: Eddy Curry Nenad Kristic

Eddie Gill was recently cut by the Nets, so Darrel Armstrong will be getting the start. It is interesting that the Nets won’t be starting Jamal Magloire coming off a 16 point 10 rebound outburst against Philly and it also seems that Jason Collins (the most offensively inept offensive player in the NBA if i might say) will still hold his starting job as the center for the New Jersey Nets. Well let’s be honest here, it doesn’t take much skill to be the starting center for the Nets, with the likes of Bill Plautz and Kenyon Martin once holding the jobs.

I’m taking the Nets in this one 103-90