World Cup Group Stage: Round 3

-Game of the round: USA: 1 – Algeria: 0

For the second round in a row, the United States were involved in the most entertaining game, this time a nail biter against Algeria. Needing a win to advance, the US knocked on Algeria's door for most of the game, scoring an dubiously disallowed goal in the first and carving a host of other chances. But the Algerian, through a combination of tough defending, good goalkeeping and just plain luck, hung on until the very death. In the 92^nd minute, Landon Donovan pounced on a rebound and sidefooted home to send the US through and their supporters into delerium.

Runner-Up: Slovakia: 3 – Italy: 2

-Worst Game: Paraguay: 0 – New Zealand: 0

Paraguay were already through and needed only a point to top the group so they were happy to sit back and let New Zealand try and beat them. New Zealand may have played the role of spoiler in its first two games, but lacked the quality to break down Paraguay's solid defense. A recipe for an extremely drab encounter.

Runner Up: Switzerland: 0 – Honduras: 0 (a mystifying lack of drive from the Swiss when a victory might well have sent them through)

-Biggest Upset: Slovakia: 3 – Italy: 2

Slovakia knocked out the holders with a barnstorming performance, showing all of the desire that the Italians lacked throughout the competition. They opened the scoring in the 25^th minute through Robert Vittek and didn't look back. They didn't just sit back after the first either, scoring two more goals, which in the end, proved crucial.

Runner-Up: Australia: 2 – Serbia: 1

-Best Performer (Team): Japan

Very few people fancied Japan to advance against Denmark with the Danes coming off a good win over Cameroon. But the Japanese completely nullified Denmark offensively and maintained possession well in the early stages. They then proceeded to score two beautiful free-kicks which knocked the stuffing out the Danes and hung to ensure their qualification for the knockout stages.

Runner-Up: Spain

-Worst Performer (Team): France

France took the worst performer category to a whole new level this year. After their torrid campaign, I wonder if even French fans might be secretly wishing the referee had spotted that Thierry Henry handball against Ireland that allowed them to qualify. Their players acted with a shocking lack of professionalism and national pride and deserve all the criticism they have been getting. However I do think that the French Soccer Federation deserves its fair share of blame for sticking with a coach who they should have fired after their disastrous performance in Euro 2008. Raymond Domenech had become a whipping boy of the media over the past two years with his every decision questioned as the poor results continued to stack up. The Federation then appointed Laurent Blanc as his successor before a ball had even been kicked at the WC, making even more of a “lame-duck” coach. With that kind of leadership, everything that has happened seems a lot less surprising.

Runner-Up: Italy (how often have both the finalists of the previous edition not even made the knockout stages?)

-Best Performer (Individual): Robert Vittek, Slovakia

Vittek forever etched his name into Slovakian footballing lore by scoring a brace against the Italians and sending his team through in their first ever World Cup as an independent nation. Vittek proved himself a very cool customer with two clinical finishes in the game, first slotting a low shot into the corner of the net from outside the area, then nipping ahead of an Italian defender to get on the end of a cross and flick it home.

Runner-Up: Lionel Messi, Argentina

-Worst Performer (Individual): Thomas Sorenson, Denmark

A game to forget for the Danish goalkeeper who conceded two free-kicks, the first of which (while still a great strike) he might have saved if he hadn't moved in the wrong direction. He almost had a catastrophic blunder in the second half when he practically fumbled a high ball into the net after mistiming his leap.

Runner-Up: Nikola Zigic, Serbia (a spearhead of Serbia's attack looked blunt throughout the tournament, and was particularly dull against the Socceroos)

-Best Goal: Mehsut Ozil, Germany:

Possibly the best goal of the tournament so far came from the boot of Germany's pint-sized playmaker, Ozil, against Ghana. A quarter of an hour into the second half, Germany's Thomas Mueller dribbled down the right-hand side before pulling the ball back to Ozil just outside of the penalty box. Ozil's first touch lifted the ball slightly off the turf as it sat up nicely for him to hit. He hammered it with his left boot out the goalkeeper's reach into the top left-hand corner.

Runner-Up: Keisuke Honda (a fantastic long range freekick that Honda hit absolutely perfectly.)

World Cup Group Stage: Round 2

-Game of the Round: USA: 2 – Slovenia: 2

Not even close on this one. This game had a bit of everything. A couple great goals, a feisty atmosphere, a dramatic comeback, and a hotly-disputed disallowed goal at the end. Slovenia was devastatingly clinical in the first half, scoring twice on what seemed to be their only two chances. The US came roaring back in the second to equalize and were probably robbed of the winning goal by the referee at the death.

Runner-Up: Cameroon: 1 -Denmark: 2

-Worst Game: England: 0 -Algeria: 0

I'm not one of those people who thinks you necessarily need goals for an encounter to be exciting, but how about some chances? Or some decent attacking play? This game got exactly what it deserved: a big fat zero (two of them in fact).

Runner-Up: Holland: 1 – Japan: 0

-Biggest Upset: New Zealand: 1 – Italy: 1

Who would have thought that New Zealand not Australia would be the Oceania team making the splash at this year's World Cup? Yes, you can argue that the Italians are notoriously slow starters, but they are still the defending champs while New Zealand's soccer pedigree is virtually non-existant (though the first first piece of it may well be created if they can somehow squeeze their way out of this group). New Zealand clawed and fought for everything they got in this game, defended valiantly and fully deserved their point.

Runner-Up: Germany: 0 -Serbia: 1 (not because Serbia's a bad side, simply because the Germans had looked so good in the opener)

-Best Performer (Team): Portugal

The Portuguese bounced back from a very bad game against the Ivory Coast to blow North Korea away 7-0 and put themselves (thanks in part to the Ivorians's loss to Brazil) back in the driving seat to qualify, or even potentially nip the top spot in the group. Portugal ran rampant in the second half, giving us a full display of their offensive firepower, particularly on the counter-attack. That being said,I don't think we should read too much into the severity of the scoreline. Scoring a bucket-load of goals on the counter against a weak opponent doesn't necessarily translate to scoring that single crucial goal in a tight game against one of the competition's better defenses.

Runner-Up: Argentina

-Worst Performer (Team): England

Really a toss up between France and England for this honor this week (I didn't have the heart to consider the North Koreans. Bad enough that their first televised game under the reign of Kim Jong-Il ended up a 7-0 thrashing). I went with England simply because, while they may not have lost as France did, the quality of the opposition wasn't comparable. Mexico are actually an above average side, whereas Algeria (no matter how hard England tried to make them look it) aren't. Both France and England have had dressing room rifts since their respective poor results and now stare elimination in the face going into their final group game.

Runner-Up: France

-Best Performer (Individual): Diego Forlan, Uruguay:

Forlan has so far shown himself to be the heart and soul of this Uruguay side. He scored two goals against South Africa but that was only of the tip of the iceberg with regards to his contribution to the team. He created chance after chance for himself and others and was very unlucky to not complete his hat-trick late in the game.

Runner-Up: Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal

-Worst Performer (Individual): Sani Kaita, Nigeria:

Soccer is a team sport of course, but in some cases one individual mistake can end being extremely costly for the team. In the case of Sani Kaita's red card against Greece, it ended up costing Nigeria their place in the competition. Nigeria perhaps weren't cruising, up 1-0 with 33 minutes gone, but they certainly looked the better team. Kaita's moment of madness, lashing out at Vassilis Torosidis, forced the Nigerians to play two thirds of the game with 10 men. The Greeks got a second wind from the sending off and came back to win the game 2-1 and knock the Super Eagles out.

Runner-Up: Wayne Rooney (was expected to be one of the tournament's stars but has looked woefully off the pace in the first two games)

-Best Goal: David Villa, Spain:

Villa was stellar against Honduras. He totally outclassed a defense that couldn't keep up with him, and was one missed penalty away from the World Cup's second hat-trick. On his first goal, he received the ball out wide on the left hand side about forty yards away from goal. He drove towards the corner of the penalty, split two defenders with quick feet and a burst of speed, and held off another just long enough to hammer the ball across the face of goal into the top corner. A great strike from quite possibly the world's best finisher.

Runner-Up: Luis Fabiano, Brazil (And no, not the one where he clearly handled the ball while juggling around and over three Ivorian defenders....though the handball spoiled an otherwise delightful strike.)

World Cup: Group Stage Round 1

-Undoubtedly the main headline from the first round of group game was the lack of goals.

Here's a little taste for you:

Teams not scoring:13

Teams scoring once: 15

Teams scoring twice: 3

Teams scoring four times: 1

That's 28 out of 32 teams, either not troubling the scorers or hitting the back of net only once. Not exactly the free-flowing, attacking soccer we all live to see. It seems to me that many of the teams approached their opening games with a good degree of cageyness, far more fearful of what losing might entail than industriously trying to carve out a victory.

The perfect example of this was the Portugal-Ivory Coast game. Both teams knew that they would probably going to be competing against each other for the second spot in their group (behind Brazil) and therefore they seemed loathed to give the other a three-point lead and hardly took any risks. Many of the games so far have reminded me of the first leg of a Champions League knockout match-up: the teams are ready to take advantage of any mistake or opportunity but hesitant to really press the issue.

The good news for the fans is that all of that cageyness should evaporate in the next set of games as the teams that lost their first games start staring elimination in the face. And who knows, that dreaded Jabulani devil-ball might finally start playing tricks on goalkeepers.

-Game of the Round: Spain vs. Switzerland

This must be why my dad always rooted for the underdog to score first in a soccer game. The Swiss goal seven minutes after halftime completely opened the game up. Spain turned on their offensive firepower, made some lovely flowing moves and created a boatload of chances, which somehow didn't translate into any goals. Meanwhile the Swiss looked industrious and threatening on the break and had a couple opportunities to put the game away.

Runner-Up: England vs. USA

-Worst Game: Algeria vs. Slovenia

A football game almost entirely devoid of any real quality. A total absence of goal-scoring opportunities, and the game was ultimately won by Slovenia (much to the disappointment of the American and English disappointment) thanks a poor piece of goalkeeping from the Algerian keeper that sum the whole game up.

Runner-Up: Ivory vs. Portugal-Ivory

-Biggest Upset: Spain vs. Switzerland

Credit to the Swiss for holding onto their slender lead in the face of the Spanish onslaught. It was a huge step towards qualification for them while for Spain, a lot of work remains to be done, particularly if Chile can replicate the form they displayed against Honduras.

Runner-Up: Brazil vs. North Korea (not that it actually happened but this deserves a spot simply because of how big the Koreans (who haven't been to a World Cup since 1966) taking a point from the Brazilians would have been.)

-Best Performer (Team): Germany

Are we really that surprised? An unheralded Germany side doing better than predicted: hardly a real shocker. But not only did they play well, but they also produced by far the best soccer of the tournament in a 4-0 demolition of Australia. They created chance after chance, exploited every one of the Socceroos' weaknesses and were hardly threatened themselves. Maybe Australia will turn out to be a worse team than expected, but that was still a strong message sent out by the Germans.

Runner-Up: South Korea

-Worst Performer (Team): Portugal

Okay, so maybe Algeria or one of the other losing teams played worse, but this category is evaluated in terms of performance versus expectations. Portugal has often produced fast attacking soccer teams in recent times, but they were anything but against the Ivory Coast. They sat back and played ultra-cautiously. Their attacking game plan seemed to be: wait until Cristiano Ronaldo comes up with a moment of individual brilliance to give us a win (which he almost did, by the way, with a thunderous strike from 30 yards that came back off the post in the first half). They may still make it out of the “Group of Death” but on that form they shouldn't be a factor in the latter stages of the tournament.

Runner-Up: Greece

-Best Performer (Individual): Mesut Ozil, Germany

Maybe my vision was blurred because I haven't seen much of him before, but Germany's newest playmaker, Ozil, looked like a stud against the Aussies. He may have been booked for a dive in the first half, but he also showed a passing finesse and play-making ability that will have soccer fans salivating for years to come. No wonder the Germans didn't seem too worried about losing the aging Michael Ballack to injury before the tournament started.

Runner-Up: Tim Howard, USA (kept England out with a series of great saves)

-Worst Performer (Individual): Robert Green, England.

How much really needs to be said about this? If you haven't seen Green's goalkeeping howler yet, then you probably don't know there's an oil spill going in the Gulf of Mexico right now either. Here's the Cliff Notes on both events. Expect Green to be riding the pine against Algeria and boycott BP.

Runner-Up: Nicolas Lodeiro, Uruguay (two yellows in his first twenty six minutes of World Cup action)

-Best Goal: Siphiwe Tshabalala, South Africa (now there's a mouthful).

Last World Cup, Philip Lahm opened the scoring in spectacular fashion, and Tshabalala continued the tradition this year with a stunning opening strike against Mexico. A lovely counterattacking move ended with a blistering “across-the-keeper-top-corner finish” to send the home fans into delirium.

Runner-Up: Thomas Mueller, Germany.

English Premier League Title Race Wrap-Up

In the end, it only took 6 minutes for Chelsea, via a sweet Nicholas Anelka strike, to insure that any final day drama in the English Premier League title race would be averted. The London-based club had entered their game against Wigan knowing that a win at home would render anything Manchester United did against Stoke City irrelevant and give them their first Premier League title in four years.

Although Wigan stuck around after Anelka had opened the scoring, the contest was effectively ended on the half hour mark. Chelsea's Frank Lampard glided past Gary Caldwell in the Wigan penalty box and the turned-around defender, in desperation, stuck out his arms making light contact with the English midfielder, who hit the turf. Without hesitating, referee Martin Atkinson pointed to the spot before harshly showing Caldwell a straight red card.

After Lampard slotted home the ensuing penalty kick, there was no way back in the game against Chelsea's stingy defense for 10-man Wigan. The floodgates opened and Chelsea tacked on six more goals to win the game 8-0 and wrap up their title denying Manchester United, who beat Stoke 4-0, a record fourth consecutive title.

For much of this season, no team really separated itself from the pack in the race to the Premier League title. Indeed, Chelsea's final points tally of 86 is the lowest total for a Premier League winner since Manchester United's 83 in the 2002/03 season. Moreover the last team to lose six games and walk away with the trophy, as Chelsea did, was again United, nine seasons ago, during the 2000/01 campaign.

All of the top English teams showed frailties during the course of this season. Liverpool dropped out of the running early, losing two of their first three EPL games, and were unable to get back into it. Arsenal admirably played the role of third wheel for the year, never falling too far behind the front two but never getting within striking distance either.

This brings us to Chelsea and United who, for the last four months on the season, week after week traded pole position in the EPL. A monster showdown between the two clubs on April 3 at Old Trafford ended with a Chelsea victory, just as it had in their first head-to-head at Stamford Bridge in November, and put the Blues back on top with a two point lead. After United were held to a 0-0 by Blackburn the following weekend, it seemed the title race might completely fizzle out. But Tottenham produced a gutsy performance at White Hart Lane to beat Chelsea 2-1 and reignite it.

The loss to Spurs turned out to be the last sign of weakness Chelsea would show during their run-in. They produced three strong performances against Stoke, Liverpool and Wigan to win out and cling on to their one point lead over United.

All in all, United's inability during the off-season to find the offensive firepower to replace Cristiano Ronaldo, and to a lesser extent Carlos Tevez, turned out to be a decisive factor in this year's title race. United summer signings disappointed for the most part. Winger Antonio Valencia had a decent season but could not possibly match Ronaldo's production: he's just not that type of player. Gabriel Obertan barely got an field and was a non-factor. Michael Owen scored a important winner in the Manchester derby but was a part-time player before tearing his hamstring in February.

As for United's other offensive players, Nani was brilliant in flashes, but United's management probably expected more of him this year. Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes began to show their age as the season wore on. Perhaps the biggest disappointment of all was Dimitar Berbatov, the Bulgarian striker who cost United $45 million in 2008. Berbatov managed only 12 goals in 43 matches, and was guilty of a number of really bad misses, particularly late in the season. Only Wayne Rooney's fantastic year, 34 goals in 44 games (by far the most prolific season of his career), kept Man United in it until the season's final day. Both Rooney and United chief executive David Gill have already hinted that United will make moves in the transfer market over the summer to address their offensive issues.

Chelsea, on the other hand, showed offensive firepower in bucket loads during the campaign: on four occasions they scored seven goals or more, and led the league with 103 goals on the season. The potent strike partnership of Anelka and Ivorian striker Didier Drogba coupled with a great season by the much improved Florent Malouda and the consistent production of Lampard made the Blues almost impossible to shut out. Had they shown more consistency, and avoided a catastrophic December (9 points dropped in six games), they might have wrapped up the title a few weeks earlier. They now have the opportunity to wrap up a league-FA Cup double against relegated Portsmouth next Sunday.

Champions League: March 16th and 17th

-Jose Mourinho drew up a great game plan to beat his former team and Inter Milan executed it to perfection to knock Chelsea out of the Champions League. Chelsea rarely got into a rhythm and, apart from a fifteen minute spell before the end of the first half, never really dominated Inter. Both Walter Samuel and Lucio had great games at the heart of the Inter's defense, limiting Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba to few clear-cut opportunities. Inter also won the midfield battle: neither Frank Lampard nor Michael Ballack had much of a impact on the game.

But the real star of the show was Dutch midfielder Wesley Sneijder. Matched up with perhaps one of Chelsea's weakest links, Jon Obi Mikel, Sneijder shone in the second half as Inter started getting more and more counter-attacking opportunities. He played a succession of wonderful passes through the heart of the Chelsea defense. Goran Pandev should have scored from one, but Samuel Eto'o did from another in the 79^th minute. The goal meant that the London-based side had to score twice in the final eleven minutes, a near-impossible task given Inter's stingy defense.

Mourinho, who had been showered with abuse by Chelsea fans in what was an ill-tempered game, did not do much celebrating at the final whistle (certainly no repeat of that infamous Old Trafford moment) but he will have taken a lot of satisfaction at masterminding this win over his former club. For Chelsea, Russian owner Roman Abramovich's dream of European glory will have to be laid to rest for yet another season.

-When Barcelona forward Lionel Messi plays like he did against Stuttgart, he's the best soccer player in the world. Simple as that. After scoring a second-half hat trick against Valencia, Messi was at his sparkling best again in Barcelona's 4-0 demolition of Stuttgart. He scored two goals and created another, but his contribution went far beyond that. He ran at (and past) defenders with authority and speed all game long. He didn't just dribble though; he linked up well with his teammates and passed the ball beautifully. It's games like this one where the Diego Maradona comparisons really ring true.

As a whole, Barcelona were superb; they looked a lot like the team that won the competition last year. They were miles better than Stuttgart, and will probably be the number one side teams will want to avoid in the draw for the next round.

-It's hard for just two players to receive all the blame for a Champions League exit, but between them Olympiakos' Antonios Nikopolidis and Matt Derbyshire almost managed it against Bordeaux. Five minutes into the game, Nikopolidis was beaten by a Yoann Gourcuff free kick that never should have got by him (To make things worse, the same thing almost happened again a few minutes later when Gourcuff lifted another long range effort over him, only to be denied by a combination of the crossbar and post). Nikopolidis also completely misjudged the cross on the Marouane Chamakh goal that sealed Olympiakos' fate.

For his part, former Blackburn striker Derbyshire received a booking for voraciously demanding a penalty after he was outmuscled in the area in the 54^th minute. Only 6 minutes later, he lunged into a pointless sliding challenge on Jaroslav Plasil to earn a deserved second yellow.

-Goal of the Week: Lionel Messi, Barcelona: On a day he provided a vintage performance, the diminutive striker also scored the goal of the week. Receiving the ball just inside the Stuttgart half on the right hand side, he dribbled forward, unchallenged, to the left edge of the penalty box. With four defenders within two yards of him, he unleashed an unstoppable left-footed shot past Jens Lehmann into the top corner.

-Goat of the Week: Didier Drogba, Chelsea. When is Ivorian striker going to learn to accept a Champions League exit with just a skosh of class and dignity? In the 2008 final against Manchester United, he was sent off after slapping Nemanja Vidic three minutes from the end of overtime (the first player to get a red card for violent content in a Champions League final). Last year after Barcelona had knocked Chelsea out, his post game rant and antics were so out of line, UEFA banned him for six games (reduced to three on appeal).

This time around, with the clock winding down and Chelsea's elimination almost guaranteed, Drogba, frustrated at being held by Thiago Motta, stamped on the Inter midfielder's ankle. Motta definitely made the most of it, rolling around on the turf as if the ankle was broken, but Drogba's intentions were clearly nasty. Once again, he let his frustration get the better of him.

Champions League: March 9th and 10th

-Two giants of European football crashed out of the Champions League albeit in very different circumstances. Real Madrid and AC Milan are the two most decorated teams in terms of Champions League championships (including the European Cup Era) having racked up 16 trophies between them (Madrid has 9, Milan 7), but they won't be adding to their tally this season.

In truth, Milan looks like a shadow of the team that won the trophy in 2003 and 2007 and went to the final in 2005. The stars of those teams are either gone (Kaka, Paolo Maldini, Hernan Crespo, Andrei Shevchenko) or have had age catch with them dramatically (Clarence Seedorf, Andrea Pirlo, Alessandro Nesta, Filipo Inzaghi, and Gennaro Gattuso). The newer cogs brought to the team haven't really worked out all that well. Ronaldinho is just never again going to be the player he was four or five years ago, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar looks as if his failure in Madrid has entirely sapped his confidence, and the jury is still out on Alexandre Pato becoming the next Kaka.

I remember watching Milan completely outclass Manchester United the last two times they met in the knockout stages of the Champions League. In 2005 , Pirlo and Gattuso put on a midfield masterclass and Kaka was too fast and too good for United defense in 2007. The roles were reversed this time around. Not only did United play sharper and quicker football than Milan but they also outran and outfought them (Milan not learning to mark Wayne Rooney tighter on crosses didn't help either).

On the other hand, for the first half hour of their game against Lyon, Madrid looked like the team worth every penny of the millions Florentino Perez shelled out this summer to create. After Cristiano Ronaldo scored with six minutes gone, with all the momentum in their favor, it seemed only a matter of time before a second Madrid goal went in. But it never came. A combination of poor finishing (striker Higuain was the biggest culprit), great saves by Hugo Lloris in the Lyon goal, and a lack of cutting edge in the final third stopped them from adding to their lead before the break.

By playing rugged defense (centerback Cris in particular was outstanding) and running down and pressuring Madrid players on every single pass, Lyon slowly crept back into the game. As the second half wore on, they started carving out chances of their own. On 75 minutes, calamity struck for Madrid when Miralim Pjanic fired home a sweet volley after an interchange with Lisandro Lopez. It was the crucial away goal they needed and was ultimately enough to send Lyon through.

After a summer of record-breaking spending, a sixth straight year of elimination in the first knockout round of the competition will not be acceptable in Madrid (and those words aren't even strong enough). The deafening silence around the Bernabeu after Lyon had scored spoke volumes as to just how shellshocked the Madrid fans were. They envisioned another era of Galacticos when they signed Ronaldo, Kaka and co., and although they still sit pretty atop the Spanish League Table, this team was forged with the specific purpose of returning Madrid of its heyday of European success. Believe me when I say Manuel Pellegrini better at least lead Real to glory in 'La Liga' if he wants to have any chance of keeping his job next year. Especially now Jorge Valdano has given him the dreaded "vote of confidence".

-Wayne Rooney's sparkling form continues. There have been few teams in the Alex Ferguson era that have relied so much on one player as this team does on Wayne Rooney (Anyone who saw Man U squeak by Wolves last weekend will testify that without Rooney, this is an entirely different unit). But Rooney might just be playing well enough to carry United deep into this competition. He was too good for Milan again on Wednesday scoring two more goals, both very cool finishes. Now the question is, can he live up to Ferguson's challenge?

-A breakthrough game for Samir Nasri. The diminutive Frenchman has flashed glimpses of his talents and ability during his season and a half with Arsenal. But there have been very few occasions when he has shown that he can completely take over a game.

On Tuesday with Cesc Fabregas, Arsenal's midfield maestro, out injured, Nasri did just that. He played out of his skin and most of what Arsenal did ran through him; including a great, defense-splitting ball that led to the Nicklas Bendter's first goal.

And that was all before he scored one of the best individual goals I've seen all season. Expect Arsene Wenger to use him again in that role just behind the frontline where he looked dangerous every time he touched the ball.

-Goal of the Week: Arjen Robben, Bayern Munich: Pushed a long, long way by Samir Nasri's stunning jinxing run and finish. Nasri's effort was probably more technically difficult but there's nothing better than seeing a football struck as sweetly as Robben did. It also carried far more weight in the tie: it turned out to be the goal that sent Bayern through, whereas Nasri's came with Arsenal already well on their way to victory.

-Goat of the Week: Hans Jorg Butt and Daniel Van Buyten, Bayern Munich: Take your pick between these two men at the heart of Bayern's defense. Butt couldn't hold onto anything - one of his flaps led to the first Fiorentina goal- and Van Buyten was pushed off the ball as if he weighed 120 pounds rather than the 215 he does on Fiorentina's third.

NFL Combine: Tuesday

Apologies for the lack of a Combine Monday post. A combination of school and work prevented me from watching much of Monday's action. If you want to find a run down of how the defensive line and linebacker prospects did, look here.

One thing that did catch my eye was that neither Ndamukong Suh not Gerald McCoy, the consensus two best football players regardless of position in the draft, were listed as top performers amongst defensive linemen in the most of the Combine drills.

Suh cracked the top ten in the bench press, but apart from that their names were absent from the top performer list in 40, the vertical jump, the three cone drill and the 20-yard shuffle.

Yet another example of the limitations of the Combine when it comes to evaluating the true value of football players.

With that in mind, here goes nothing....

Combine Risers and Sliders: Defensive Backs

Risers:

Eric Berry, S, Tennessee: Ran a fast 40 for a safety at 4.47, completed 19 reps on the bench and leaped 43 inches in the vertical. He looked as good as expected in all the positional drills too. Cemented his spot as a top-10 and quite possibly top-5 pick come draft day.

Earl Thomas, S, Texas: Making a strong claim to be the second safety picked in April. He put on about 10 pounds of muscle since the end of the college season, and proceeded to knock out 21 reps at the bench. He looked very fluid and natural in all of positional drills, had a decent 40 in the 4.5s, and just has the look of a player who can make it happen at the next level.

Taylor Mays, S, USC: People have been questioning Mays' game for the last two months after a disappointing senior year at USC. Before the Combine, he'd slipped from a preseason top-5 cinch to a risky first rounder. He started strong with a 41 inch vertical and then 24 reps on the bench. He had a terrific 40 in the low 4.4s (the NFL Network had his first run mistakenly timed at 4.24 which would have tied Chris Johnson's Combine record and created quite the buzz in the studio). He may not have the instincts of an Earl Thomas or an Eric Berry at the safety position (there was some definite tightness in the positional drills), but he has more of an athletic 'wow' factor than either of them.

A.J. Jefferson, CB, Fresno State: Helped his draft grade with good vertical (44”) and broad jumps (10'6”) (he was top five amongst DBs in both), and ran his 40 in the low 4.4s. Could turn out to be a really good small school product.

Akwasi Owusu-Ansah, CB, Indiana (PA): By all accounts Ghanian-American Owusu-Ansah impressed during his interviews and press conference earlier this weekend and he backed it up on the field on Tuesday. He was fast, and athletic and looked very smooth in the corner drills.

Stickers:

Kyle Wilson, CB, Boise State: After being one of the best performers at the Senior Bowl, he was poised for a big Combine too after completing the second most reps of any defensive back 25. But then he pulled out of the positional drills with a sore hamstring. Expect him to have a scintillating pro day though.

Sliders:

Joe Haden, CB, Florida: The consensus top-rated cornerback, who was considered a top-10 pick by many coming in, raised a huge red flag about himself by running two very slow (for a corner) 40s. His first was clocked at 4.57, his second was even worse at 4.6 flat. He looked as if those poor times affected him in the later drills, where he looked tight and unsure. Haden has a whole bunch of spectacular tape to fall back on and could well be more of a football than a workout guy, but no doubt he cost himself some draft slots here.

Myron Rolle, S, Florida State: His poor 40 time of 4.69 overshadowed the smooth turns and soft hands he showed in the positional drills.

Dennis Rogan, CB, Tennessee: Another prospect with a poor 40 time, he couldn't get under 4.7 (which would have been a poor time for a safety, let alone a cornerback). Without great height (he stands just under 5'9”) or great speed, talent evaluators might struggle to find much to like about him.