Jeu du Jour Week 5: Déjà vu, Grenoble

You know what they say about title-challenging teams: if you can play badly and still win, you've got what it takes to be the champions. The question is, does the reverse apply for relegation-threatened teams?

Grenoble are challenging the theory at the moment, that's for sure. Having played five and lost five so far this season, they've played well more often than not and yet still won nothing for their efforts. Their latest opponents, champions Bordeaux, had a decidedly off day on Saturday as they aimed to maintain an unbeaten run that goes back over six months, but still beat the tenacious Grenoble who, some say, deserved at least a point from the game.

Yoan Goufrann's 18th-minute goal proved to be the sum total Bordeaux's efforts on the day, but despite Laurent Blanc's acknowledgement of a poor performance, it means Bordeaux stay top of the table and Grenoble remain bottom.

Joining Mehmed Baždarević's team at the wrong end of things are Saint Etienne who have won only one of their five games, and it was against... Grenoble. Predictable really, wasn't it? This week, they lost by a single goal away to Rennes who maintain their unbeaten start to the season, moving up to sixth in the table as they do so.

One place above them are PSG whose unbeaten run came to a crashing end against Monaco on Sunday. With five minutes remaining, the match looked to be heading for a goalless draw but up popped Chu-Young Park and Nenê to smash and grab all three points for the Principality. To make matters worse, PSG had Benin midfielder Stephane Sessegnon sent off in injury time as the team from the capital lost ground on Bordeaux at the top.

Marseille and Lyon continue their own hot pursuit of Bordeaux with a win each at the weekend. Marseille faced tough opposition in the form of a Le Mans side who gave as good as they got at the Stade Léon-Bollée. Mamadou Niang put L'OM in front early on, but Le Mans pushed hard for an equaliser with Anthony Le Tallec (yes, him again) going close on several occasions.

Eventually the home side got their goal through a lovely overhead kick from Modibo Maiga just after the hour mark, but their lead lasted only eight minutes courtesy of Marseille's Brazilian striker Brandão. He headed in unmarked from a free kick to ensure his side stay in the top four.

Another Brazilian making his mark was Michel Bastos who picked up his second goal of the season in Lyon's 1-0 win over Lorient. It came in the final third of a game that saw Lyon playing with an unfamiliar formation following the absence through injury of Lisandro Lopez. It took them a while to get going against a tame Lorient, but by the second half they had their opponents on the back foot and eventually got their goal through Lyon's summer signing from Lille 18 minutes from time.



Still the undoubted Wild Card in the pack is Montpellier who rise to third in the table following a scrappy 1-0 over the team that pipped them to the Ligue 2 title last season, Lens. Alberto Costa's 39th-minute penalty was the only difference between the two battling teams and proved enough to maintain Montpellier's unbeaten start to the season.

At the other end of the table, Nice slipped into the bottom three after handing their hosts, Auxerre, their first win of the season. A goal in either half saw Auxerre climb out of the relegation zone for the first time in this campaign – no doubt a psychological boost for the team that can claim never to have been relegated from the top flight.

Also picking up their first win (and about time too) were Lille after a 1-0 home win over Sochaux that lacked much for the connoisseur to enthuse over. At this rate, Sochaux look likely to finish in 14th spot for the third season running while Lille will now be hoping to return to the top end of the table they so often occupy.

Out tip for greatness in 2009/10, Toulouse, are finding it all a bit of a struggle this season. They endured their third game in a row without a win after a goalless draw away to Nancy, but it wasn't for the want of trying. Star player André-Pierre Gignac dominated the match with a raft of chances including two that hit the bar in the second half, but the luck just wasn't with Toulouse on the day.

The game ended spectacularly when Nancy midfielder Silva André Luiz was sent off for headbutting Etienne Didot, but it did nothing to alter the result. Both teams now occupy a middle-third spot now but are patently capable of improving that by the end of the season.

Finally, a mention for plucky Boulogne who refuse to be overawed in this, their first ever Ligue 1 showing. They extended their current unbeaten run to four after a 1-1 draw at home to Valenciennes who themselves seem to have turned a corner at last. Boulogne, rather admirably, occupy eight spot in the table now while Valenciennes climb up to 15th.

Boulogne's first big test of the season comes this weekend as they play host to Bordeaux while Montpellier travel to Marseille. At the bottom end, there's a six-pointeur between Auxerre and Saint Etienne to whet the appetite, so why not join us next week to see how those games and the seven others in Ligue 1 pan out.

Until next time, it's à bientôt! Results and tables here.

Just One Scudetto: Matchday 3 - Return of the Tinkerman

Lots to catch up on with two rounds of fixtures in Serie A, the start of the Champions League and of course the Azzuri in World Cup qualification action. So no messing around - let's get straight to it. Avanti!

Since my last update, Luciano Spalletti has parted company with Roma to be replaced by Claudio Ranieri, following a home defeat to the Tinkerman's former club Juventus. Juve have got off to a fantastic start with three wins from three, adding another win in the eternal city against Lazio (locals will be hoping the visitors didn't throw some spare euros in the Trevi). Diego seems to be proving himself the signing of the summer for Juve, already looking set to more than justify the €24.5 million they paid Bremen for his services. As for Ranieri, he's made an immediate impact, overseeing Roma's first win of the season away to Siena thanks to a last-minute goal from John Arne Riise.

Juve are joined at the top of the table by the two teams from Genoa. Adding to first day wins, both teams won by the single goal in games at Atalanta (three defeats from three for them), Sampdoria also beating a decidedly shaky looking Udinese, and Genoa coming out 4-1 winners over Napoli in an interestingly officiated tie that saw three red cards and two penalties. Stats fans will be interested to know that table toppers and leading scorers Genoa have got their eight goals from eight different players.

Spreading the goals around is something Udinese haven't achieved, with six of their seven coming from just one man, Antonio Di Natale. He pulled them back from behind for the second time this season scoring a hat-trick in the 4-2 home win against Catania. Napoli's goals have been shared between Marek Hamsik, who's scored in every game, and new signing Fabio Quagliarella - who scored twice in the 3-1 home win over Livorno. One win from three however hasn't gone much way to convince anyone about Donadoni's managerial capabilities.

Fiorentina are still unbeaten following up their opening day draw with two 1-0 home wins against Palermo and Cagliari. Cagliari have yet to add to their solitary point having lost 3-1 at home to Siena. Chievo have chalked up their first win with a 2-0 win at struggling Bologna, a very good result following their previous match - being beaten 2-1 at home to Lazio, from a goal up and the visitors playing the last half hour with ten men.

Of course the biggest match so far this season has been the Milan derby in which Inter (as the away side) ran out 4-0 winners. The result, though, said more about how much Leonardo has to learn rather than how good Inter are. The key moment of the game was Gatusso's dismissal and the events surrounding it. Severely exposed in midfield, Gatusso was clearly carrying an injury, however in the time it took Clarence Seedorf to get it together to put his boots on to replace him, Gatusso commited a second bookable offence and was off - already two goals down there was no way back for the Rossaneri.

Inter followed this result with a 2-0 home win against Parma. It wasn't straightforward for Mourinho's men as Parma held their nerve for 70 minutes looking to emulate Bari's opening day draw at the San Siro. In the end, tiredness got the better of them and they were fortunate not to be on the end of a bigger (if undeserving) scoreline. Inter's goals came from Eto'o and Milito (I may be using this line a lot this season). Milan, however, could only battle out a goalless draw against the other promoted side Livorno.

Parma became the first of the new boys to register a win with their 2-1 win over bottom placed club Catania who remain pointless. Bari are still unbeaten haven't picked up draws against Bologna and at Palermo to add to their opening day heroics.

A ray of brightness has come Milan's way though in the shape of the Champions League; in a replay of the 1993 final, Pippo Inzaghi (who else) scored twice to beat Marseille 2-1. This tie was just one part of an Italy v France extravaganza in the Champions League - Fiorentina going down by the single goal at Lyon and Juventus drawing 1-1 at home to in-form Bordeaux. Match of the day should have been Inter v Barcelona - but in the end, though, it turned into what it always was: an early stage league fixture with either side so eager to show that they got the better end of the Eto'o/Ibrahimovic deal they forgot to go about winning the thing. A tame 0-0 resulted. Lazio, Roma and Genoa are in Europa League action tonight.

On the international stage, the World Cup holders were eased towards qualification by two goals from a Milan defender. However the defender in question was Kakha Kaladze playing for Georgia and putting it past his own goalkeeper twice in the space of 12 minutes to hand the tie 2-0 to the visitors. Italy relied on their own players for the same scoreline at home to Bulgaria four days later - Juve's Grosso and Iaquinta on the scoresheet there. Just a point from their next game away to the Republic of Ireland on October 9 will be enough to see them through as winners of Group 8.

Well I'm off to Italy myself for a week so by the time I write my next update there will have been three rounds of fixtures including a rare midweek card. The nearest match to me will be Bari v Cagliari next Wednesday - given that neither side have won yet and only managed three goals in their six so far it hasn't really filled me with enthusiasm to drag Mrs. S the 80-odd km to watch a game from behind a running track. I'm sure a local bar will be carrying something more entertaining.

A più tardi!

Bundesbag Week 5 and Champions League Update - Two and a half out of three

Public displays of fake unity are never entirely convincing. Take Brown and Blair in the 2005 election campaign or Ritchie and Madonna in the final days of their marriage. However, the post-goal celebration between Franck Ribery and his boss Louis van Gaal was positively coital in its intensity. It had been suggested that the pair had been at odds but all that was put to one side as Franck, a second half substitute in Bayern Munich's game at Dortmund, scored from a magnificent free kick and ran into the arms of his beloved coach. Were the majority of the 80,000 spectators at Dortmund's Westfalon Stadion not so miserable they would have turned away in mild embarrassment.

The match ended 5-1 and put the cap on what has been a largely miserable weekend for yours truly. But while Franck stole the headlines, the match should also be remembered for two fantastic goals by Thomas Muller, making only his 9th Bundesliga appearance for Bayern. Muller turned 20 only last Monday and added to his tally on Tuesday against Haifa in the Champions League. The Bundesbag advises the discerning to keep a close eye on the young Muller.

With Bayern, seemingly back in business (although I'm far from convinced by their defence) the current champions Wolfsburg are having a decidedly mixed time of things. They welcomed joint table-toppers Leverkusen to the VW Arena hoping to end their run of two defeats. After half an hour, the Wolves had their keeper Diego Benaglio sent off for a professional foul. Things went downhill from there as the Bayer club took full opportunity of the man advantage with two goals from Rolfes (one being a harsh penalty in my view) and a third from Kiesling.

However, the Champions recovered themselves and scored two in reply. While they still lost the game 3-2, they remain unbowed. They can console themselves with their maiden Champions League win on their first ever appearance in that competition. Grafite was the hat trick hero as they beat CSKA Moscow 3-1. An impressive result. It also represent coach Armin Vey's first win at that level after his dismal run with Stuttgart a couple of seasons back.

Stuttgart are the Bundesliga's other Champions League team. Their preparation could have been better after going down 3-1 to the league's other leaders Hamburg. Coach Bruno Labbadia had some bad news after the World Cup qualifying weekend as Paulo Guerrero and Colin Benjamin returned with long term injuries. Fortunately, his squad is deep and goals from Mladen Petric, Eljero Elia and the excellent Ze Roberto sealed the win for the northerners. Russian international striker Pavel Pogrebnyak scored Stuttgart's consolation goal. He scored once again in the Champions League against Rangers. The game finished 1-1 and capped off an unbeaten start for the German clubs, although you suspect that Stuttgart will be dissappointed with a point.

Elsewhere, Frankfurt's decent start to the season continued at Freiburg with a 2-0 win to take them to fourth in the table. Berlin's wretched start to the season continued at Mainz with a 2-1 defeat. Hoffenheim's Vedad Ibisevic has yet to score since his return from injury but that's OK because the rest of his chums seem happy to fill in for him. Hoff beat Bochum 3-0. Nurnberg are finally off the mark thanks to a 1-0 home win against 'Gladbach. Bremen encountered stiff opposition against Hannover and had to settle for a point in a goal less draw.

Rooted to the bottom are Koln who will need to improve massively if they plan on being anywhere else. While Lucas Podolski equalised after Jefferson Farfan's 2nd minute opener, the German international looked wayward and undisciplined in attack. The two midfielders Petit and Maniche look unfit and more concerned with trying to win free kicks (although they can both play when they want to). To be blunt, they seem short of answers and deserved to lose 2-1 after Kobiashvili scored the winner. There is much work for their coach Zvonimir Soldo to do, unless of course, he is part of the problem.

Meanwhile, the .2 Bundesliga top spot is being shared by two of the coolest clubs in Europe, Union Berlin and FC St Pauli. Union shared 9 (nine) goals at the weekend with Paderborn at An der alten Försterei. It finished 5-4 to the Berliners.

That's it. Results and tables here.

Football Americana Week 26: Galaxy hit for six

Week 26, and Columbus Crew have finally reached the summit. DC United had a mixed week, while LA Galaxy and New England Revolution stumbled unexpectedly.

The action got underway on Wednesday. DC United hosted Kansas City Wizards and picked up a slightly fortunate 1-0 win courtesy of Luciano Emilio, who found an empty net after a Chris Pontius header had beaten Kevin Hartman but cannoned off the post. Chance Myers was dismissed late on for two bookable offences within a few minutes.

United were at home again on Saturday, this time facing a much stiffer challenge in the shape of Sigi Schmid's Seattle Sounders. It was a productive night for the youngsters, beginning with Steve Zakuani's fifth minute opener for Seattle. Rodney Wallace equalised in the 54th, but Fredy Montero nicked it for Seattle late on, his shot deflected by Julius James into Josh Wicks' top corner.

Earlier, Toronto FC had stepped up their hunt for a playoff place ahead of United by beating Colorado Rapids 3-2 at BMO Field. Dwayne DeRosario fired TFC ahead on the turn in the 19th minute and Colorado couldn't equalise until the second half, when Conor Casey made his height count to head home.

O'Brian White lobbed the ball over the goalkeeper to make it 2-1 to Toronto, and Nana Attakora headed in a corner three minutes later to put TFC 3-1 in front. Michael Holody got a consolation for the Rapids in the last minute.

There was little excitement to be had from watching the Wizards's second game of the week, but they picked up a welcome victory at New York Red Bulls. The only goal of the game came in the tenth minute, when Claudio Lopez forced the goalkeeper to save on the edge of his area and his parry fell to Josh Wolff, who stroked the ball in first time from 30 yards.

Honours were even at Rio Tinto, where Chicago Fire missed the chance to strengthen their playoff hopes. They led Real Salt Lake at half time after Marco Pappa had set up Chris Rolfe's sixth of the season, but Jamison Olave scored his third with just under 20 minutes left to ensure RSL took a share of the points.

Game of the week and possibly game of the season took place in Carson, where FC Dallas hit four late goals to record a 6-3 victory over LA Galaxy. Dave van den Bergh's deflected free kick put FCD in front in the 8th minute, and Jeff Cunningham's 115th MLS goal made it two in the 25th.

AJ DeLaGarza thought he'd pulled one back a minute later thanks to a fortunate ricochet which was deemed to be an own goal, but he made sure the equaliser in the 41st minute had his name on it. But in the 71st minute Dax McCarty kicked off the slaughter, with Atiba Harris and David Ferreira putting the game beyond the Galaxy in the 82nd and 83rd minutes.

In the 86th, Brek Shea's perfect layoff found Cunningham who hit a low rocket to make it six. LA got a last-minute consolation, Edson Buddle heading in his fourth of the season from a David Beckham corner. There were ugly scenes afterwards, with words exchanged presumably about FCD's exuberant goal celebrations and on-field showboating.

On Sunday, Chivas USA put a dent in the play-off hopes of New England Revolution. Edgaras Jankauskas of the Revs and opponent Carey Talley both saw red for violent conduct after 70 minutes with the score at 1-0 thanks to Chivas' Maicon Santos. Sacha Kljestan added some gloss from the spot deep into injury time.

And in the showdown between the league leaders, Columbus Crew defeated Houston Dynamo 2-1. Frankie Hejduk opened the scoring in the 33rd minute, nodding in Gino Padula's cross. Cam Weaver levelled for the Dynamo with just ten minutes left after a terrible miss by Brian Ching minutes earlier, and then it all kicked off in a big way.

Crew's Adam Moffat was dismissed for serious foul play after a challenge on Rico Clark, whose reaction earned him the same punishment. But there was still a sting in the tail, as Eddie Gaven coolly rolled in a stoppage time spot kick to win it for the Crew.

So Columbus go top and continue to lead the East, three points ahead of Chicago. Houston lead the West with 40 from LA with 38. The next four spots are held by Seattle, Colorado, Chivas and DC.