The Milan Derby Ends Deadlocked At Zero

If you are a true fan of football then you know there is one rivalry that comes to mind when one thinks of Italian football and it takes place in one city. The Milan derby at one time between Inter Milan and AC Milan meant something when looking into Serie A competition. Now the rivalry is a shell of its former self as both teams who are currently in 9TH and 10TH place in Serie A (AC Milan had 42 points and Inter had 41 heading into the derby) are looking to rebound and rebuild the rivalry where financial mistakes have been made. Inter Milan was designated the home team for this game so the stadium's name changes to the Giuseppe Meazza as both Roberto Mancini (Inter Milan manager) and Filippo Inzaghi (AC Boss) look to make a run in the table for at least a Europa League birth. The first half looked as if it was going to belong to Inter as Rodrigo Palacio and co were constantly on top of AC Milan, but AC Milan's suspect defense showed up to play. The game however as it went on would prove to be a game of disallowed goals from the game officials.

AC Milan didn't come alive and start attacking until after the 23RD minute of the game and after a clumsy foul Gary Medel, AC Milan was offered a free kick. After launching the ball into the penalty area, a goal by Milan's Luca Antonelli would be called off for a foul. The second half would see the advantages lie mostly with Inter Milan and Palacio who was creating so many chances on goal, but they couldn't come close with one being called off for offsides and an own goal by AC Milan's Philippe Mexès in the 72ND minute would be called off for a foul by Palacio. Mexès was a very lucky player in this game as he also managed to avoid having a penalty called on hm after he the ball had hit his hand before he cleared it from the danger zone. The game would eventually end on a 0-0 tie which was the exact opposite of a result that both teams had hoped to walk out of the game with even though 1 point is decent. If I had to choose a player of the game from the 162ND meeting between the two, it would have to be between Suso and goalkeeper Diego Lopez who literally saved AC Milan from losing. Suso at 18 years old had an amazing debut in the Milan Derby creating chances and almost scoring a goal.

Iran Gets A Goal When It Counts, Takes Control Over Group

The 2015 AFC Asian Cup has been well underway to the point that it has come down to the moment where in some groups they have teams battling for first place. That was the case earlier this morning in Group C for both Iran and the United Arab Emirates who were both tied for first with six points. If the game finished in a tie, UAE would take the group based solely on goal diffential, but that wasn't in the cards for both teams today. Iran has been one of the more impressive teams from the Middle East ever since Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz took over for the team before the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The team even had a pretty impressive run even though they didn't go far in the tournament.  They were about to face a team in UAE at Brisbane Stadium that wanted to prove that they could hang with the best. For the most part, UAE was hanging with Iran in the first half, but Iran was just too good and they had the better chances near the net. Queiroz's mind and ability to strategize is what would get the best of the other team in this game.

In the second half, Queiroz made some adjustments by bringing in two key players into the second half in Ashkan Dejagah and Reza Ghoochannejhad. Iran were on the attack a little more while UAE sat back and made no substitutions at all during the game which in my opinion hurt them. Iran were by far creating the better chances, but a lot of them would fall short. UAE had some chances in the game, but they could capitalize on the Iranian defense by gaining any rebounds. Eventually by certain time, it seemed that both teams were indeed going to be playing for a tie as none of their chances looked promising as the 90TH minute of the game started to approach. That was until Iran had one of many of their corner kicks late. The kick wasn't well executed, but the clearance by UAE was just as pitiful as Andranik Teymourian was able to keep the ball in play by lobbying it back into the box where it found the head of Reza Ghoochannejhad who found the back of the net in the 91ST minute of play to give Iran the win and sole control of first place with nine points. Winning a group is very important as you are able to avoid a team that may be on a role when it comes to the knockout stage. My player of the game award goes to the obvious candidate of Reza Ghoochannejhad who found the back of the net. A close second for me was going to be Ashkan Dejagah who I thought made an impact. Now Iran will wait to see who ends up being the runner of group D which will probably be Iraq.