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Another Sacramento loss, another preseason friendly win for UK opposition. But unlike on Saturday, when the Republic were played off the pitch by Rangers, this time it was Sacramento who controlled possession and took more shots, especially in the second half. But West Brom defended well, and Sacramento really had no idea what to do against the organized defense of the Premier League side. Boaz Myhill was equal to the few chances they did create, though Thomas Stewart really should've scored when he had two bites at the cherry 1-v-1.
Albion's only goal came via a fairly terrible call by the referee, awarding a penalty for basically nothing from which Graham Dorrans made no mistake. Craig Gardner got sent off late (surprise, surprise) for a second bookable offense (it's a friendly, gents). Victor Anichebe looks humongous, but he tired VERY quickly and was kind of useless after 15-20 minutes. Mulumbu, Berahino, Olsson stood out for Albion. And whoever it was who played right back: his red hair was a perfect match for another perfect NorCal sunset right over the stadium.
The two teams will be back at it on Friday; should be a good one.
In other news...
FIFA is as FIFA does | SB Nation
Launches investigation, then not reveal the results. So much sense, I don't even know where to begin.
Juve sign Patrice Evra | SB Nation
Forever in the shadow of Ashley Cole.
Negredo to miss a few months | SB Nation
Yeah, like that'll hurt City. They'll probably sign Cavani now, too, just to be safe.
Team Newbee wins Dota2 International | SB Nation
Way to give your opponents a false sense of confidence with your team name, Team Newbee. I actually tried watching this thing more than once, but I just got very confused. There was lots of death and destruction, that's all I got out of it.
FOOTBALL (all times BST):
There are a bunch of Champions League early qualifying matches and tons of friendlies. I don't think any of them are on TV, so unless you're really desperate for a football fix and find some random Internet stream filmed with a potato, this is essentially none.