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Soccer Wednesday: Your Running Commentary

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By AVI CREDITOR

One of the Champions League's most anticipated knockout stage ties kicks off at 2:45 p.m. (Fox Soccer Channel) as Chelsea and Inter Milan do battle in Italy. Jose Mourinho, who has been doing his fair share of talking (otherwise known as the usual) during the week, welcomes his former team to the San Siro for the first leg of a sure-to-be-entertaining matchup.

CSKA Moscow and Sevilla already drew 1-1 in Russia earlier in the day in another Champions League Round-of-16 first leg.

In England, four FA Cup fifth-round replays are being played. Brad Guzan is back in net for Aston Villa against Crystal Palace. He was replaced by Brad Friedel in the original fifth-round match, but returns in goal to try and keep the favorites alive.

Bolton manager Owen Coyle has said that Stuart Holden will make his Wanderers debut against Tottenham in their replay. West Brom faces Reading, and Stoke City faces Manchester City in the other two replays.

If you will be watching any or all of these matches, either on TV or via Internet feed, please share your thoughts or play-by-play in the comments section below.

Comments

  1. and a straight red card to mexico in the 93rd for kicking the ball directly into a US player laying on the ground… come on lads- need to show the adults that’s no way to act!

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  2. I’d question Coyle’s sanity if he didn’t consider playing Holden more after this match. In my opinion he proved he deserves a spot on the pitch, or at least the bench, with his performance today. He performed a lot better than some of the others who are in contention for getting playing time. He really was one of the bright stars for Bolton today; he was a little shaky in the first half but got more agressive with the spurs for the ball in the second half and his FK’s and CK’s were pretty good too, but it was some of his team mates that didn’t delilver when he got them the ball. I actually thought he should have been a little bit more selfish in some areas.

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  3. I stand corrected. Apparently the scenario I described hasn’t been in place sine ’92. I guess that’s what happens when most of your FA Cup knowledge come from Among the Thugs.

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  4. There is only one replay and it will go to extra time and PKs if need be. Man City – Stoke and WBA – Reading both went extra time today but PKs weren’t needed in either.

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  5. A couple commentators have said Holden was one of Bolton’s few bright spots. It seems he got quite a bit more involved in the second half. If anyone watched the game, I’d really appreciate your impressions of Holden’s play, and whether you think he’s likely to have won himself some time on the pitch. I truly have high hopes for the kid.

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  6. Not surprised that Holden looked better at RM. I think he’s stronger out there — always looked better there for the Dynamo. Not that he’s terrible in the middle, but he really is better on the wing.

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  7. Holden played pretty well; got more comfortable and confident as time went on. He practically took over on the free kicks and corner kicks in the second half, which were pretty dangerous but ultimately didn’t produce any results. He played pretty well for not having played a true game since the mls cup semi-final in the fall (which says a whole lot about Bolton).

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  8. For FA cup matches, don’t they just switch locations, and continually replay the match until one team wins? I’m fairly sure that’s how it works, with no extra time or pk’s. I could be wrong on this one though.

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  9. Thanks for the updates on the Bolton-Tottenham game. Being that this was FA CUP, who started for Tottenham? How many regular starters sat this one out? I guess what I am looking for is if Holden played well against a strong Tottenham side (Defoe scored so it sounds like Tottenham wasn’t playing around) or was it mostly Tottenham subs that throttled Bolton?

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  10. Ah but Reyna was in a class of his own among American players. Truly a brilliant player.

    I think you’re right though except its not necessarily conservative play that helps Americans succeed in Europe but the influence of the English playing style. English style play can probably be said to be more conservative than Latin play.

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  11. Wow…could you be any more of a fuddy duddy? Stuart has been one of the best players on the pitch for Bolton today according all the BOLTON fans on their own messageboard… There is room for both Dempsey and Stu in the same set-up…

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  12. Micronesia Justin said…

    I’ve never been high on Holden and am not that surprised he hasn’t played for Bolton.

    February 21, 2010 at 09:11 PM

    Tony in Quakeland said in reply to Micronesia Justin…

    Going to enjoy reminding you of this post in a couple years…

    February 21, 2010 at 09:19 PM

    ThaDeuce said in reply to Tony in Quakeland…

    or weeks. : )

    February 21, 2010 at 11:31 PM

    Micronesia Justin said in reply to ThaDeuce…

    I hope so!

    February 22, 2010 at 11:14 AM

    ThaDeuce said in reply to Micronesia Justin…

    Time to eat those words!!! 😀 😀 😀

    February 24, 2010 at 04:58 PM

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  13. If Holden’s crosses had been answered Bolton easily could have equalized. He got better as the game went on and was one of, if not the best, players for Bolton today. Today certainly increases his chances of starting or being a sub on saturday. Holden should be proud of the way he played today; reminded me of why I got interested in him while he was with Houston Dynamo he’s got a lot of potential.

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  14. Stu (and Bolton’s attack, really) looked quite strong in the last 30 minutes. That is cold comfort to Bolton fans, but I think this was a pretty encouraging performance. He was confident, calling for the ball (and overdribbling a bit), and he certainly looked like he belonged.

    He did much better once he went wide with the subs coming in, as we would expect. However, my very limited knowledge of Bolton makes me think that he will face a lot more competition for PT out wide than he would in the middle.

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  15. Actually, Holden was playing Muamba’s position because he was AWOL. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a defensive midfield play so poorly.

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