Friday, April 29, 2016

Soccer: Sporting Kansas City vs. Los Angeles Galaxy

/mls-los-angeles-galaxy-sporting-kansas-city Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY SportsLos Angeles Galaxy at Sporting Kansas City – Major League Soccer

Sporting Kansas City looks out of form lately. The last time the team won was back to April 9. SKC only played one home game in that stretch and will be back at home on Sunday.  Sporting Kansas City is only a slight favorite in this one  because of it’s bad form of late. This game will be nationally televised against the LA Galaxy. The matchup between Sporting Kansas City and the Los Angeles Galaxy will take place on Sunday, May 1, 2016 at 8:00 p.m. ET at Children’s Mercy Park. The fixture will be broadcast on FOX Sports 1.
Kansas City started off the season really great, but the last few games have been terrible. SKC did manage a 1-1 draw at Vancouver but before that they suffered a 1-0 loss at San Jose and a 2-1 loss at FC Dallas.  Kansas City does have some injuries to contend with.  Midfielder Paulo Nagamura has a calf strain which has kept him out of training at the beginning of this week. Defender Chance Myers and Midfielder Justin Mapp are questionable as well. Midfielder Soni Mustivar and defender Kevin Ellis will be out of lineup on Sunday. Sporting Kansas City is a patient and tactical team. That is where forward Dom Dwyer has been dangerous this year and could easily hit on the counter.
The Los Angeles Galaxy has been in good form as of late. Last week, they made five goals against the Real Salt Lake. The week before that the Galaxy dropped four goals against Houston. Those nine goals isn’t the norm for them, and accounts for over half of what the Galaxy have scored this year in seven matches. Galaxy midfielder Nigel de Jong has been suspended for this match, and that could hurt the team. Forward Robbie Keane is out with minor knee surgery. Defender José Leonardo Ribeiro da Silva is questionable for this one after suffering a leg injury. Top Sports Blog thinks even with Keane out of the fold, the team is just in good form at the moment with three wins and two draws in its last five. This one is a hard one to call and may end up a draw between LA Galaxy and Sporting Kansas City.

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Arsenal FC vs. Norwich City FC

Norwich City FC at Arsenal FC - Premier LeagueNorwich City FC at Arsenal FC – Premier League

Arsenal was doing very well in the Premier League and was looking to be favorites on winning the title but their recent weeks in the league has gone very bad and are now 11 points off the top spot. The Gunners are still fighting for their spot in the UCL next year. Arsenal wasn’t able to score all the points while playing opposite to Sunderland on Sunday in Premier League game. Norwich City has been in horrible form as of late and are officially up against it. The Canaries will be fighting hard, but the chances of getting anything out of this match on the road at Arsenal are slim. The matchup between Arsenal and Norwich City is scheduled to take place on Saturday, April 30, 2016, at 12:30 p.m. ET at Emirates Stadium. The fixture will be televised on NBC.
Norwich just aren’t finishing right now. The Canaries were beaten 3-0 at home by Sunderland, and that came on the heels of a 1-0 loss at Crystal Palace. Norwich is going to have to play the rest of this season without Timm Klose who plays as a centre back. Also, Alex Tettey, who plays as a central midfielder is out with an ankle ligament injury which will require surgery. These two men are crucial to the team’s survival. The Canaries midfielder Nathan Redmond only has five goals this season, and forward Dieumerci Mbokani really hasn’t been in good form.
Arsenal hasn’t been in great form lately either. The Gunners has drawn three of its last six matches which made them drop a spot below at fourth place in the current league table. The Gunners failed to get all three points from both Crystal Palace and Sunderland. Arsenal will try to hold on to the last Champions League spot for next season and knows that at this point a win is absolutely crucial. Top Sports Blog thinks the Gunners will get all three points that they need in this game. However Norwich will put forth a good effort and get edged out to push it closer to a return to the Championship.


Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Charlotte Hornets at Miami Heat in Game 5

Miami Heat back on Home Court vs. Charlotte Hornets with Playoff Series tied at 2-2

The Charlotte Hornets stay alive with the playoff series tied at 2-2 with the Miami Heat. The best of seven game series is now tied at 2-2 and heading back to Miami for Game 5. The game between the Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat is scheduled to start on Wednesday, April 27, 2016, at 8 p.m. ET at American Airlines Arena. The matchup will be televised on TNT.
The Charlotte Hornets did a lineup change in Saturday’s Game 3 with their big men dominating down low. It worked and that was a good thing because the Hornets leading scorer Kemba Walker made just 4 of 19 field goal attempts for 17 points. On Monday’s game Miami paid closer attention paid to Jefferson and Kaminsky down low. This meant the outside opened up for the Hornets point guard Walker to take advantage. The difference was he made his shots on Monday. Walker connected for 13 shots on Monday and made his playoff career-high of 34 points.
The Miami Heat have proved to be two different teams through the first four games in this series. The Miami Heat throttled the Hornets in their home court during the first two games. They racked up 238 points to match a franchise record. The Heat team that played the past two games struggled to score. They failed to protect the paint and made costly mistakes in Game 3 on Saturday. In game 4 on Monday the Heat squandered chances to potentially win that one. Top Sports Blog believes the Heat will play better than they did in than they did in Games 3 and 4  on their home court and should come out the victor on this one.

Monday, April 25, 2016

Manchester City vs. Real Madrid

Real Madrid vs Manchester CityReal Madrid at Manchester City  – Champions League

Manchester City is good enough to be in the semifinals of the Champions League, but what are the chances for them to reach the finals? Real Madrid doesn’t have to win this match, but if the Galacticos did, they’d be on their way to the finals. Real Madrid is the favorite to win one, and if the Citizens have any chance, they’ll have to win this first leg in Manchester. It looks like this game could be higher scoring than your average first leg of a Champions League affair. The matchup between Manchester City and Real Madrid will take place on Tuesday, April 26, 2016, at 2:45 p.m. ET at Ethiad Stadium. The soccer game will be broadcast on FOX Sports 1.
Manchester City has been in good form of late. City has won over Stoke City 4-0, Chelsea 3-0 and PSG 1-0 in its last three matches. In this coming soccer match, the Citizens need to slow down the Galacticos forward Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo has 16 goals already in this competition so far to lead the way.  Manchester City doesn’t  have anyone that even five goals in the competition. Top Sports Blog is not sure if the Citizens offense can keep up with one of the best players in the world assuming that he’s back in the fold after missing Saturday’s game. We think Real Madrid has learned a lesson from its bad match at Wolfsburg. Also if Ronaldo is alright for this coming match, the Galacticos has the better team to win by a wide margin.

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Miami Heat at Charlotte Hornets in Game 3

Miami Heat at Charlotte HornetsMiami Heat on fire in first two games, now back to the hive might be what Charlotte Hornets need

The Charlotte Hornets had a strong finish to the end their season. The Hornets are 0-2 in this series against the Miami Heat and are looking for their first postseason victory since 2002. Charlotte will have to turn things around at home, where the team performed much better during the regular season. Charlotte’s 30 regular season home wins were the third-most in the Eastern Conference during the regular year. The Hornets won 13 of their final 15 regular season home games, including a victory over the league’s second-best team San Antonio. The matchup between the Miami Heat and Charlotte Hornets is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, April 23, 2016, at Time Warner Cable Arena. The game will be televised on TNT.
The Miami Heat have been outstanding on offense over the first two games of this series knocking down over 50 percent of your shots in a game. The Heat hit over 57 percent in each game and collectively have drained 57.8 percent and 52.9 percent of their threes. It’s been an amazing shooting display. The Heat have struggled on the road at the end of the regular season, going 1-3 in their final four road games, and 3-6 in their last nine.
It may look like the Hornets are not playing defense but they actually are. Being a bit tougher on the defensive side will also help Charlotte’s chances of slicing the series deficit in half.  Top Sports Blog believes that the Charlotte Hornets will be a different team at Time Warner Cable Arena, posting the third-most home wins among Eastern Conference teams. The home court advantage will be the big difference as the Hornets finally pick up their first playoff victory.

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Oklahoma City Thunder at Dallas Mavericks in Game 3


kevin-durant-wesley-matthews-nba-oklahoma-city-thunder-dallas-mavericks-590x900Oklahoma City Thunder and Dallas Mavericks battle in Game 3 of the first round of the NBA Playoffs

The Oklahoma City Thunder blew another fourth quarter lead Monday and the huge underdog Mavericks stole a game to knot the best-of-seven series at 1-1 heading back to Dallas. The Dallas Mavericks were the biggest underdog to pull off an upset in the NBA playoffs. With the series tied and momentum on their side, the Mavericks have to feel much better about the way that they played Oklahoma City as they head home. The Dallas Mavericks host the Oklahoma City Thunder which is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. ET on Thursday, April 21, 2016, at the American Airlines Center. The game will be televised on TNT.
The Dallas Mavericks went back to the defensive philosophy from Wesley Matthews and others that carried them in the last three weeks of the regular season. Oklahoma City power forward Kevin Durant also had an off-night. A bit of both likely figured into Durant’s bad shooting night as the Thunder couldn’t overcome his 26 missed field attempts and lost by a point in Game 2. It was the worst postseason shooting performance of his career. His 26 misses were the most he’s had in 716 career regular season and playoff games. Even with Thunder’s bad performance in game 2, they were still within a fraction of a second from taking a 2-0 series lead. The Mavs hung in there, kept the basketball game close and made the plays to get the victory. Top Sports Blog believes the Thunder will respond from this close loss with a Game 3 victory on the road. The Thunder needs to be better and start learning how to close out games.

Friday, April 15, 2016

FC Dallas vs. Sporting Kansas City

Sporting-Kc-v-FC-Dallas

FC Dallas host Sporting Kansas City in a clash at the top of MLS Western Conference

FC Dallas doesn’t exactly look as dominant as it did for much of last year in the Western Conference. The Hoops have to face Sporting Kansas City which is topping the table in the Western Conference at the moment. FC Dallas is the MLS home team in this one and is sure to be favored. FC Dallas has done a great job at home picking up points in all four of their duels here at Toyota Stadium thus far in 2016. The soccer match between FC Dallas and Sporting Kansas City is scheduled for Sunday, April 17, 2016, at 7:00 p.m. ET at Toyota Stadium. The matchup will be televised on FOX Sports 1.
Mauro Alberto Díaz, is an Argentine footballer. He currently plays for FC Dallas in Major League Soccer. Diaz is injured and isn’t likely he’ll be in the fold on Sunday night.  That’s a huge loss because Diaz is one of the top creators when he gets a chance to get in some space on the pitch.
Sporting Kansas City has a long injury report right now which seems to be problematic, especially at the back. Justin Mapp, Soni Mustivar, Kevin Ellis and Chance Myers are all certainly out for this matchup. Brad Davis and Matt Besler are both trying to get cleared from their concussions, while Paul Nagamura has a calf strain, and may play some but doubt he’ll be in for the full 90 in this one. The Sporting Kansas City defense has looked lost, especially when trying to defend against the counterattack. Top Sports Blog believe that the Hoops have the advantage at home even if Diaz doesn’t play. As long as the Sporting Kansas City forward Dom Dwyer doesn’t have a fantastic game FC Dallas should take this one.

Monday, April 11, 2016

Soccer: Manchester City vs. Paris Saint-Germain

Manchester City vs PSGManchester City and Paris Saint-Germain play to advance in Champions League

Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) played each other in the first of the quarterfinal ties in the Champions League, and now the two teams are playing to advance to the semifinals of this tournament. Manchester City is but slightly favored in the odds to advance from this match. The soccer match between Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain is scheduled to start at 2:45 p.m. ET on Tuesday, April 12, 2016 at Ethiad Stadium. The game will be televised on FOX Sports 1.
The first soccer match between these two teams was a tight affair that ended up in a 2-2 result.  PSG dominated possession a with 67 percent of the ball, but it’s tough to say that it definitively had the better of the chances, especially if you remove Hart’s blunder near his own goal. That being said, there is a lot of pressure on both of these teams to make it to the semifinals. Manchester City knows that winning the Champions League is the one way to ensure its spot in the UCL next year. Manchester City may not secure a spot in the UCL via the Premier League which is still  up in the air. PSG is tired of getting knocked out of the UCL and it needs to win to prove that it truly is one of the top teams in Europe. Top Sports Blog  thinks PSG will come down to Ethiad Stadium in London and knock off Manchester. PSG has really pressed forward with Angel Di Maria, Edinson Cavani and Ibrahimovic, and those three are going to see the Parisians through in what should be yet another fantastic match between two really good clubs.