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Soccer Wednesday: Your Running Commentary

Tim Howard 3 (ISIphotos.com)

The American Dynamic Duo of Tim Howard and Landon Donovan will look to regroup from Everton's loss to Liverpool by knocking off first-place Chelsea in one of the better matches of a busy Wednesday in the soccer world.

Three top-notch EPL matches lead the way in a good mid-week schedule. Here are matches to watch for:

2:45pm– FSC- Aston Villa vs. Manchester United

2:45pm– Setanta USA- Arsenal vs. Liverpool

2:45pm– ESPN360.com/RAI- Parma vs. Inter Milan

3pm– No TV (web only)- Everton vs. Chelsea

3:55pm– GolTV/ESPN Deportes- Getafe vs. Sevilla

4:45pm– Setanta USA- Everton vs. Chelsea (Delayed)

I will be (attempting to) do an Everton/Chelsea running commentary so please feel free to follow along. You are welcome to share your own thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play on today's other matches (as well as thoughts on Everton/Chelsea) in the comments section below. (Feel free to share stream links if and when possible).

Enjoy the action.

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FINAL– That's all for me. Time to watch the replay on Setanta so I can see all the parts I missed while scrambling for feeds. Thank you for following along and share your post-match thoughts in the comments section below.

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FINAL- EVERTON 2, Chelsea 1. Louis Saha with two goals and Landon Donovan with his best Everton performance to date as the Toffees keep Chelsea's road woes going.

England fans might start worrying a bit about this Donovan fellow come June 12th. Something tells me Ashley Cole will know who he is.

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95th minute– Donovan gets the ball and races down the wing, killing the clock and draws a free kick.

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92nd minute– Everton corner, taken short to kill clock.

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91st minute– Stoppage time now. Everton with the ball.

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88th minute– Chelsea pressing, Everton have some fresh legs to try and close this out.

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86th minute– Bilyaletdinov is out, Dan Gosling is in.

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85th minute– Five minutes left. Chelsea corner.

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81st minute- SAVE HOWARD! Stops a Lampard shot, corner to Chelsea.

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81st minute- Ten minutes left for Chelsea.

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75th minute- GOAL EVERTON!!!!! And it's Saha, with his second as he beats John Terry before blasting one past Cech to give Everton the 2-1 lead. Terry whiffs on an attempted header, leaving the ball for Saha, who makes no mistake.

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73rd minute– Donovan whips in a cross but it doesn't find a head. Zhirkov isn't giving him a ton of space but Donovan is still finding a way to get crosses off.

Jack Rodwell comes in for Arteta, who made his first start in a year. He did look rusty at times but he's still an important player Everton will need if it has hopes of climbing up the table.

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72nd minute– Arteta with a turnover that sparks a Chelsea break, but the visitors can't capitalize.

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71st minute– Chelsea with a good spell of possession, but here comes Everton on the counter.

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67th minute– Kalou is in for Anelka.

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65th minute– Everton doing a good job finding Donovan.

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64th minute– Donovan draws a yellow card after fouling Zhirkov. Not sure that's a yellow as their legs tangled on a full sprint.

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60th minute– Donovan has a cross blocked by Terry. Appeals for handball, but it wasn't a handball, Terry got his foot on it before it bounced up.

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58th minute– Donovan with a nice cutback and cross in but it can't find a head. Everton keeps possession and puts the pressure on before giving it up.

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57th minute– Drogba tries to beat Howard with a blast from WAY out. Not sure what that was about.

Ashley Cole is hurt and is limping off. It came in a challenge with Donovan, who blasted at a ball that Cole had a leg in on. Ballack is in for Cole and now Donovan will battle Zhirkov.

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54th minute– Bob Bradley might be wondering if he's better off having Donovan match up against Ashley Cole on June 12. I still think Donovan starts on the left in that match, but obviously a lot can happen in four months.

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53rd minute– Everton's pushing hard now and Chelsea is on the back-foot.

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47th minute– We're back and Everton has started well. Another corner for Donovan.

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HALFTIME– If Saha could finish he would have a hat-trick and Donovan would have two assists and a third goal off his drawn penalty. That aside, Everton responded very well as a group after Malouda's goal, with Baines and Bilyaletdinov combining well and putting some pressure while also easing the pressure off Everton's back-line.

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HALFTIME– Everton 1, Chelsea 1. Landon Donovan with his best half since coming to England. An assist on a corner, a penalty drawn and great defensive work. Big-time performance today. 

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45th minute– The PK is MISSED!! Saha with a weak PK and Cech with the save.

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44th minute– Very wide open game and DONOVAN DRAWS A PENALTY!!!!!!! Carvalho brings him down in the box.

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43rd minute– Drogba balloons the free kick, wasted chance.

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42nd minute– Donovan clatters into Malouda, earning Chelsea a free kick. Donovan's putting in a ton of defensive work today. Chelsea with a dangerous chance from the left flank.

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37th minute– Everton dodges a bullett when Anelka botches a great chance provided by Drogba.

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34th minute– Donovan hits a great corner that finds a streaking Saha to the near-post. We are now tied 1-1.

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33rd minute– Donovan earns a corner on Cole. GOAL EVERTON!!!! And it's Saha with the header OFF THE CORNER FROM DONOVAN!!!

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31st minute– Everton is finding some success with Chelsea's game plan of attacking the slow right fullback.

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30th minute– Baines with some more good work to earn a corner, but Bily's corner is awful.

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28th minute– Baines with a nice run forward and nearly equalizes with a soft volley.

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26th minute– Phil Neville is struggling badly. Can't deal with the waves of pressure.

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23rd minute– Everton with some breathing room after finding a corner, but can't do anything with it as Heitinga's shot off Arteta's corner is off the mark.

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17th minute– GOAL CHELSEA!! And it's Florent Malouda with the finish. Chelsea 1, Everton 0. A long ball in finds Drogba, who heads it into Malouda's path. Malouda beats Neville to it and blasts one past Howard.

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16th minute– As you might imagine, I'm having some stream issues. Everton on the attack, at least it looks that way from the choppy footage. Bily is proving a handful for Ivanovic.

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12th minute– Chelsea in control early on. No sign of Arteta yet.

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10th minute– Chelsea is really trying to work the left flank with the trio of Malouda/Zhirkov/Cole. Donovan is doing his part to try and defend it. He should also be able to find space on the counter as much as Chelsea is attacking.

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7th minute– Teams still feeling each other out. Lampard sends a good shot wide from about 23 yards out. Nice build-up from Chelsea, Cole with the cross in to him.

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5th minute– Donovan streaked down the right flank on the counter, with tons of space, but his cross to Saha is a bit too strong.

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PRE-GAME- Here is Chelsea's lineup:

———-Drogba———Anelka——–

Zhirkov———Lampard———-Malouda

——————–Mikel———————

Cole———Terry——Carvalho—–Ivanovic

——————-Cech—————————

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PRE-GAME- Here is Everton's lineup:

————————Saha——————————-

———————————-Cahill——————–

Bilyaletdinov—–Arteta——–Osman——–Donovan

Baines——–Distin————Heitinga———Neville

————————-Howard—————————

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PRE-GAME– As expected, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov and Mikel Arteta have slid into the Everton lineup in place o suspended Steven Pienaar and injured Marouane Fellaini. Landon Donovan will be on the right flank, where he will be matched up against England fullback Ashley Cole. As if Cole weren't a tough enough opponent, Donovan will also have Yuri Zhirkov playing on the left flank for Chelsea. That's a pretty expensive left flank for Chelsea.

Comments

  1. From Everton’s Website, the Man of the Match:

    Tim Howard – 6%

    Phil Neville – 1%

    Johnny Heitinga – 2%

    Sylvain Distin – 1%

    Leighton Baines – 2%

    Landon Donovan – 47%

    Mikel Arteta – 3%

    Leon Osman – 1%

    Diniyar Bilyaletdinov – 6%

    Tim Cahill – 2%

    Louis Saha – 28%

    Dan Gosling – 0%

    Philippe Senderos – 0%

    Jack Rodwell – 0%

    Reply
  2. What a result for Everton and match for Landon. It makes the Liverpool result all the more bitter. If they could have capitalized on the man advantage against Liverpool that would have been six points against two of the big four.

    I am hoping that LD continues to impress and something is worked out between MLS and Everton. Surely Bruce Arena could see the value in him staying in the EPL through May.

    Reply
  3. guardian: “That was Landon’s best game for us,” said Moyes. “But I don’t think we’ll be able to keep him when his three-month loan expires unfortunately.”

    that kinda sucks.

    Reply
  4. From the Telegraph:

    Chelsea regained their composure after that miss, but they were rocked back again when Cole limped out of the game following a robust challenge by Donovan, who had spent almost an hour tormenting the England full-back.

    Reply
  5. That is what Fulham fans previously said about Dempsey, but now they miss him. If Everton starts losing again when Donvan leaves then what will you say. . .

    It is funny how many people were saying how he would not even be able to play in the EPL and now people are arguing he has been the best player on Everton.

    Reply
  6. MATCH FACTS

    EVERTON (4-4-1-1): Howard 6; Neville 7,

    Heitinga 6, Distin 6, Baines 7; Donovan 8, Arteta 6 (Rodwell 74min), Osman 6,

    Bilyaletdinov 5 (Gosling 86); Cahill 6;

    Saha 7 (Senderos 90).

    Booked: Donovan.

    CHELSEA (4-3-3): Cech 6; Ivanovic 7,

    Terry 7, Carvalho 6, A Cole 6 (Ballack 56, 6); Mikel 7, Lampard 7, Zhirkov 6; Anelka

    (Kalou 66, 6), Drogba 7, Malouda 6.

    Booked: Mikel.

    Man of the match: Landon Donovan.

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1250006/Everton-2-Chelsea-1-Terry-pays-price-Saha-pounces-net-Goodison-winner.html#ixzz0fBECgaos

    Reply
  7. It’s user rated, so maybe a bit of American-heavy voting. Regardless, it sounds like he played his best game in England. I’ll drink a beer to that.

    Reply
  8. A couple points:
    1) Lets not get ahead of ourselves. LD has had a couple great games, and a few so-so games. Today’s game was his best performance as he truly looked confident on the pitch.
    2) LD is NOT Everton’s best player. Fellaini, Pienaar, Howard, Saha, are all rated higher.

    I’m as big a LD fan as any of you and I want to see him succeed, but lets be objective. He’s showing quite well and will probably only get better, but he’s not Everton’s best player(yet).

    Nevertheless, great performance today. My hat’s off.

    Reply
  9. Very unfortunate for the Villains (correct usage of nickname?). Up a man the entire game, although the Reds were strong without Nani. BTW, Rooney is a machine. He is an unbelievable athlete, never gives up. A player’s teammate and a coach’s player.

    Reply
  10. sounds like LD is just killing it right now. highest rated player on skysports (or is that american voter inflation?) outside of the pictorial of Deuce’s wife Bethany in SI’s Swimsuit Issue (you MUST watch the video online, and thank’s for sharing Clint!) best US soccer news all week.

    Reply
  11. Donovan has been a revelation.?!….have you just started watching donovan play? i truly am shocked ppl. doubted him just because he didn’t play in the epl sooner. the man has been the real deal for a long while now. if he was an argie, brazilian, italian , spanish, etc. they wouldn’t of doubted him so much. his own country men didn’t have faith on him.unreal.

    Reply
  12. One thing I can’t wait for is when Fellaini gets back on the field for Everton. He seems to play the exact same role that Michael Bradley does for the USA; a physical, two-way central midfielder with good distribution, touch, tackling, pace, ability to read the game, and a ninety-minute intensity. If he and Donovan get a chemistry going before this loan is over I won’t be shocked in the least.

    Reply
  13. Can’t believe they didn’t let Lando take the PK. I mean, he has been known to miss them from time to time, but he drew the foul AND is the designated PK man for his national team. The kick should have been his.

    Reply

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