It's All San Andres' Fault: A Second Semi-Final Redux

Didier Drogba has placed blame for Chelsea's Champions League exit squarely on his shoulders after his failure to score at the Nou Camp when he got in alone on Victor Valdes.

Just kidding. Chelsea players are all about Øvrebø.

Here's a link dump in the fallout of Barca's extra-time leveler at Stamford Bridge yesterday. Click bonanza after the jump.


Chelsea players now saying there were "six or seven" decisions against them. Pretty sure by next week, it will be between 15 and 20.

Graham Poll counts four. Also the only person in London not selectively forgetting that Chelsea received a bad decision gift with Abidal's sending off. Webchat with Mr. Three Yellows is here.

Pique admits his handball could have been legitimately given, then tells Chelsea to fuck off because they got all the calls at the Nou Camp.

Sun says Drogba attacked ref and is facing a ban.

Drogba consoles self after loss by dating a man. Great pic of Ballack flashdancing with Øvrebø.

The ref had to be smuggled out of the country due to death threats. Stay classy football fans. (Oh, and now UEFA has put a gag order on Øvrebø to stop talking about the match).

No shit? headline on this one. We just wanted an excuse to mention Guardiola. Was his sideline sprint more Mourinho at Old Trafford in the CL, or Slaven Bilic from last summer's Euro?

Anytime it's a choice between 'conspiracy' and 'incompetence' always pick the latter, people.

Finally, we end with this nugget from England's Brave John Terry: ''I am fully behind Didier Drogba for the way he reacted. The man wants to win. You can see the passion that he played with during the game and the passion afterwards."

Clearly, EBJT wasn't paying any attention the entire management tenure of Phil Scolari when Drogba couldn't even be bothered to mail it in. Anyway, that's the crazy person that Terry is backing up top. "You're not angry, you're just pointing. 'Hey you, I know you. I know you.'"

Thanks to Sarah for another fantastic animated gif. And here are some decent bonus pics here, here, here, and here.

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Maryland's Very Own Juventus?

It's not clear whether the seventh grade girls soccer league in Bethesda, Maryland has its own Mario Balotelli, but the parents of one team were banned from the sidelines for two games. Seems a few of the Bethesda Legacy travel squad were a bit rowdy with an assistant referee after a disputed offside call last season. Unconfirmed reports suggest the linesman was from the Webb family.

Everybody has experienced it at a youth soccer match. The parents are just a bit too into the game and start second-guessing the ref. Then, the group reaches critical mass and goes just too far telling the ref's daughter he should be fired.

The parents were not allowed within 100 yards of the sidelines. But, as you know, youth squads are shuttled around by parents every weekend and these suburbanites were clever watching from the grassy knoll along with the second shooter. See pic.

From the Washington Post:

After the game, a Bethesda parent approached the referee and accused him of making the wrong call, the report says. The parent "started to raise his voice," according to the report. More sniping occurred, and "the tone and behavior of the parents was aggressive." Then another Bethesda parent allegedly yelled at the referee's daughter, "Your father should be fired!"

What? That's it? I guess so. I mean, there wasn't even a concealed weapon involved.

It's unclear whether the offending referee was also parent of the opposing squad. If so, I see no reason to accept the decision of a biased official.

[Photo: Washington Post]

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You Hear That?... That Was My Skull

Quick quiz (ooh, and it's a video Daily Double):



This ref:

A) Suffers from some sort of palsy.
B) Couldn't get better work after his role as Corky in "Life Goes On."
C) Is totally wasted.
D) All of the above.

Wish it were D, too, huh? I totally want to live in a world where Chris Burke is a soccer ref.*

Anyway, would it help if we told you this happened in the former Soviet Republic of Belarus?

Yep, he's drunk. Or so say the newsreaders in this version of the clip.

The most staggering thing about it (and yes, we're all about bad puns here at UF) is that, from the looks of the players warming up around him, he appears to be reffing an U-13 match. Maybe Arsene slipped him a Mickey at half.

I'm not entirely convinced it's not back pain (or maybe he's just 'tarded... it's okay my first wife was a 'tard, now she's a pilot). Really, who leans that far back when they are schwasted?

Personally, eh, don't see what the big deal is. It's not like anyone would notice a difference in the quality of officiating if most of them were loaded. Plus, let he who wouldn't start pounding a few cold ones at the break if he'd worked 247 Belaussian youth games cast the first stone.

[*Ed Note: Turns out that Burke, according to that IMDB page, is an usher at a Catholic church near his home, which, given the amount of activity in a Catholic mass, makes it in some ways not all that far off from reffing soccer]

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