With J Hutcherson -- Massive game Wednesday, or something like that. Delight with the rest of us in the spectacle that should be Manchester United - Inter Milan at Old Trafford. Wonder how a manager can talk so much smack when his club should be down multiple goals. Thrill at how it seems to actually be working.
The Mourinho effect is nothing new to Manchester United, and it's bitten them many times before. This game would erase all of that.
If Manchester United can get one of several stars to actually keep his shots on frame, this could turn into the kind of score draw that will favor United in the shootout.
Regardless of what United did or didn't do in the first leg, they did keep Inter off the score sheet. That hasn't happened in Serie A play since October, and it's not likely that United does it twice.
Still, United has only allowed five goals at home in Premier League play while scoring 30. It's a different story courtesy of the Champions League group stage. A +1 differential with two draws.
Inter should be keying on that, with United causing themselves as much trouble as the opposition in both of those draws. Disrupt them early enough, and United is a team of superstars that can't hold it together.
Whether or not that opens them up enough to take the game in regulation is a very good question.
Meanwhile, yesterday's games held up the first leg winners, leaving Roma - Arsenal as the last chance to continue the trend of at least one team turning around that game one result. Roma gets home field result and that has to count for something considering Arsenal's stubborn refusal to actually lose a game.
At this level, that's worth about as much as you want it to be. Arsenal isn't an elite team, but neither is Roma. Both have been shown up enough in league play to no longer be much of a threat for the Champions League slots. In a very real sense, this becomes the game of the year for both of them. The next game of the year is on the line, along with salvaging some respect for this season.
Like Juventus on Tuesday, Roma should feel like they have as much of a chance to at least make it interesting.
Moving on, pro soccer in what we'll politely refer to as the greater District of Columbia got another issue overnight. The Washington Post's Ovetta Wiggins has the details on DC United's ownership hitting up Prince George's county for more than they expected to pay for the pleasure of Major League Soccer's company. That would be anything, and thus the problem.
As it stands, DC United is in a stadium that's good enough for the the Gold Cup and World Cup Qualifying, but is described as 'rickety' by the club's ownership. Fair enough given the era of soccer-specificity, but at the same time this is part of a broader issue for any club in any league looking to build with any municipal money.
The thing about a recession is it puts spending in focus. That works against professional sports in general, and few venues hold up against very good questions.
DC has been asking United those questions for several years. Now it's suburban Maryland's turn.
Comments, questions, solutions to problems that have yet to present themselves. Please, tell me all about it.
