This Should Quiet The Jermaine Jones Haters, For A Day At Least

Look I get it, if you just know Jermaine Jones from his caps for the U.S. men's soccer team the past few years then you probably don't get what all the hype is about. So he is a clumsy midfielder that can pick up a bunch of yellow cards, what's the big deal? I'm not a founding member of his fan club by any means but a highlight reel goal like this by him (for Schalke this afternoon in a Champions League Round of 16 match vs. Galatasaray) shows that maybe Jurgen Klinsmann is onto something.



PS With this goal, he became only the second U.S. player to score this late in the UEFA Champions League, joining DeMarcus Beasley.

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2011-12 UEFA Champions League Draw Held For Round Of 16 Which Begins February 14

It's been hard to keep up with the UEFA Champions League but with today's draw for the round of 16 (which begins with the first legs on February 14), things are starting to get clearer and easier to focus on.

The knockout pairings with the group winners listed first:
Arsenal vs. AC Milan
Chelsea vs. Napoli
Barcelona (defending champions) vs. Bayer Leverkusen
Real Madrid vs. CSKA Moscow
Bayern Munich vs. FC Basel
APOEL Nicosia (no clue who that is) vs. Lyon
Benfica vs. Zenit St. Petersburg
Inter Milan vs. Marseille

For my money, the most tasty matchups are Arsenal vs. AC Milan, Chelsea vs. Napoli and Barcelona vs. Bayer Leverkusen. You'll note that Manchester United is nowhere to be seen there since mighty FC Basel eliminated them in the last round.

According to ESPN Stats & Info, there's a 25% chance that no English club (there's only 2 left) reach the quarterfinals. If that happens, it would be the first time since 1995-96 that no English teams were in the final eight. Something to pay attention to when these games start up again.

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