Who is this Woman Pictured Below?

A Famous Hertha fan spolighted by Google!

Football fans, even though Google ads have kicked out the IMOTGP blog, we are pleased to report to you who this mysterious woman is in Google's doodle today.

The woman is none other than Hertha Marks Ayrton, a British scientist who would have marked her 162nd birthday today.

Obviously she was born before Hertha BSC was formed in 1892 but she died during the club's early years and was no doubt a supporter of the official club of the IMOTGP blog. We salute Google for their support of Hertha and their support of Hertha ahead of this big weekend with a crunch match versus Bayer Leverkusen!

A Very Special IMOTGP Post: The Plight of Shakhtar Donetsk

Football fans know it's a special occasion today since its time for the Europe League semi-finals. The featured match is between Liverpool and Villarreal, with Jurgen Klopp three matches away from guiding the Reds back to the Champions League. We want to talk about one of the teams in the other match between Shakhtar Donetsk and two-time defending champion Sevilla.

You see, Shakhtar - a perennial European power - has not played in its home city for quite some time. Credit goes to the Guardian's Tim Rich, for spotlighting how it's been nearly two years since Shakhtar last called Donetsk home. That's when pro-Russian separatists seized control of the city in a conflict that rages on endlessly.

The list of players that have come through Shakhtar is impressive. The club made smart purchases of young Brazilian players who were developed into stars.

Captain Darijo Srna told the Guardian: “This team is stronger than the one in 2009. It is stronger mentally, its potential is bigger and they are very motivated. We have lost our homes, our stadium and our fans. We have lost the training ground and we have lost our city. We are one step away from the final and this team deserves respect.

“People who thought Shakhtar would fall apart don’t know our president and they don’t know our club. We have lost I don’t know how many important players – Willian, Fernandinho, [Henrikh] Mkhitaryan, [Alex] Teixeira – and we have maintained the same level of play. You have seen how well Willian and Fernandinho have played in England. This club made them.”

Shakhtar has a special place in the heart of the IMOTGP blog since we journeyed there less than a year before the conflict for a Champions League matchup between Shakhtar and Bayer Leverkusen (who play Hertha this weekend in a much anticipated matchup, but we digress).

You can see that the Donbass Arena is truly a marvelous place and your faithful blogger made good friends with Krot, the mole mascot of the club. A gripping match saw stars like Douglas Costa and Fernando and Emre Can all taking part in front of a packed crowd.

And this old mining town wasn't just some football factory.  It featured the famous Donets Basin, amazing parks and even New York Pizza.

Said Srna: "Donetsk was beautiful. It had restaurants, parks, good schools. It was a city of the future. I said when I left that, if we came back, I would kneel down and kiss the street. Now I will kiss every road. Everyone wants a happy ending. Everyone."

A happy ending would be a trip to Basel for a Europa League final. This matchup has history since they met in the UEFA Cup round of 16 nine years ago.  Shakhtar had a 4-3 lead on aggregate in the third minute of second-half stoppage time when this happened:

That's right, goalkeeper Andres Palop scored to level the tie and Sevilla went on to win in extra time and eventually captured the UEFA Cup.  Two years later, Shakhtar captured that trophy for their first piece of European hardware.  These are clubs with plenty of recent tradition, although one is fighting for something more than Europa League glory. They are fighting to give their fans over 700 miles away hope.

This has been A Very Special IMOTGP Post.

No Brooks vs. Chicharito!!

United States football fans looking forward to the US. v. Mexico duel between Chicharito Hernandez and John Anthony Brooks won't get one this weekend.  That's because the oft-injured Brooks is out Saturday due to a shin bruise. He has been injury prone ever since dealing with Jurgen Klinsmann's unusual training sessions in March and Hertha have paid the price.

It's still a huge match between third-placed Bayer Leverkusen and fourth-placed Hertha Berlin, teams that figure to be major contenders in next season's Champions League. Bayer have won six straight and are in imperious form. The key for Hertha will be slowing down Chicharito, hailed as one of the best players in the Bundesliga this season. He had offers to go elsewhere in Europe but chose the Werkself and has revitalized his career.

On the flip side, there are no rumours about any U.S. players headed to major European clubs, not even false rumours. We'd start some but then the IMOTGP blog would lose credibility so we'll stick with the Bobby Wood to Hamburger SV rumours.

IMOTGP commentary: Cheaters? Jamie Vardy, Jay-Z and the meaning of it all

Pot calling the kettle black!

Football fans saw Monday night that Leicester City moved closer to the Premier League title when Tottenham failed to beat Tony Pulis and Weak Bromwich Albion. It means that the Foxes have a seven-point lead with three matches left.

It was important news since reports are surfacing that Jamie Vardy will be suspended for the trip to Man United for the above point and scowl at referee Jon Moss. Vardy was given a second yellow card for diving in the 2-2 draw with West Ham United, and is thus a cheater.

You may be saying, 'Wait a minute, IMOTGP, that man Vardy is pointing at isn't Jon Moss.' You are correct, observant readers. In our photo, Vardy is pointing at another J, none other than famed rap impresario and businessman extraordinaire Jay- Z, aka the Jiggaman, aka Hova, aka many other names.

We know you come to the IMOTGP blog for the hottest stories and there's another cheater in the news besides Jamie Vardy. It's none other than the Jigga himself - alleged to have 'cheated' on his wife, Beyonce, aka Sasha Fierce, aka Queen B. This explosive news rocked social media when 'B' released her incendiary, stunning album Lemonade.

While most media have focused on the infidelity of the marriage between the couple,  we want to explore the idea of cheating itself and why it rankles the masses in comparing these two incidents.

First, Beyonce and Jay-Z. Maybe he enjoyed the company of another woman as alleged. But is that 'cheating?'  Are there laws against such a thing? Sure there are consequences but that's only if you get caught. Oops, sorry Jigga, we guess the jig is up. But must his good name - or names - be sullied in the process? And should we cry for Queen B? Well rest assured, she can now find herself a QB. We know she has eyes for top-level pro athletes.

Speaking of such brings us to one Jamie Vardy, a success story in his own right who shares a similar life background to Jay-Z. One was born in the Marcy section in Brooklyn and worked his way out of the projects while the other grew up as a Yorkshireman through and through in a hardscrabble steel town named Sheffield. Vardy is the latter one.

Vardy played on youth teams before landing at Fleetwood Town, in the Conference Premier - one of the lower levels of English football. He reached the top but those roots of steel stayed with him to this day - just like Jay-Z stayed true to his Brooklyn roots.

So what Vardy did against the Hammers - was it cheating? Yes, because referee Moss saw it as such. But many would have looked the other way, and many times a referee would not make that call whether he was blinded by the Foxes' success, their star man's high-wattage displays on the pitch or maybe just because he was too bored to blow his whistle on another dreary night in England.

On the ethical scale, we believe that media coverage of diving's ills are much too sensationalized. It's not like Vardy tried to hurt somebody. And cheating brings tremendous risks. In other words, and words that Jay-Z can understand, whoever said illegal was the easy way out, couldn’t understand.

So yes, call Jay-Z and Jamie Vardy cheaters if you must. But remember that a wise man once said, "'Hov, how you get so fly?’ I said ‘From not being afraid to fall out the sky.'" Which means if we say sure Jay-Z slept with another woman besides Beyonce and sure Vardy dove we also say you don't reach the highest echelon in the esteemed worlds of rap and Premier League football without pushing the boundaries a bit. And that's all that's going on here.

This has been an IMOTGP commentary.  Thank you and continue to follow us for all your football and pop culture needs.

Liverpool are ready for their trip to the United States!!

Another Merseyside Derby has ended and Liverpool ran riot with a 4-0 victory over that other team in town, which finished with 10 men. It was a master-class by Jurgen Klopp's men, which knocked out heavyweights Borussia Dortmund last week in the Europa League.

Klopp has clearly made his presence felt at Anfield, and you can see him in the United States in California on July 27 and July 30 in some huge matches against Chelsea and AC Milan.

The manager and his charges did their best to promote the tour and honor the trip to Cali by quoting some of Hollywood's classic lines. Check it out, especially Kloppo doing his best to try to decipher 'Jerry Maguire.'

DfB-Pokal Semifinal is here!

He won't be smiling after Wednesday night!

It's simple IMOTGP followers - the biggest football match up to this point is here. The stage is set at one of football's cathedrals - the Olympiastadion in Berlin. That's right  it's a German Cup semi-final between Hertha Berlin and Borussia Dortmund in a real clash of titans. 

Last season, your faithful blogger traveled to the German Cup semi-finals to see Dortmund shock Pep Guardiola's mighty Bayern Munich. The IMOTGP blog never dreamed that one year later, Hertha - led by United States superstar John Brooks - would be in position to reach a first-ever final in their home ground.

The news is already positive since BVB superstar Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will not play because he is too scared of Hertha, based on our German translation software. Dortmund was besieged by the public before their departure to Berlin, with teenage sensation Christian Pulisic drawing the most attention and signing autographs for the fans and posing for selfies.

While Pulisic and Dortmund were having fun and greeting the supporters, Hertha were hard at work at training and the IMOTGP blog can assure you that there won't be any smiles on anyone wearing yellow and black Wednesday. Dortmund are devastated after losing to English club Liverpool last week and failed to score the last time they set foot in Berlin. 

The prize for the winner? A date with mighty Bayern Munich in Berlin in the final. Hertha have to play Bayern anyway on Saturday and it is the official position of the blog that Hertha will make it zwei für zwei this week!

Weekend roundup: Pulisic, Jordan Morris score, Fuchs to MLS in 2021

Hello football fans and welcome to this roundup of key action from the weekend. And we start in the Bundesliga, where - you know him, you love him - Christian Pulisic converted in the first half against Hamburger SV in this goal heard around the world.

That goal set Dortmund on course for a resounding 3-0 victory and Pulisic shared his excitement after: "I'm absolutely delighted, it's a very good feeling to score your first competitive goal. Simply outstanding."

It should be noted that Dortmund made wholesale changes after their shock collapse to Liverpool in the Europa League. It came before a huge match before Hertha BSC in the Pokal semi-finals, a match that Pulisic astutely says he does not expect to start.

Hertha are hurting and winless in three, alhough John Anthony Brooks returned for Saturday's 2-1 loss to Hoffenheim. Now Brooks has a big week to prove himself to Europe's elite, facing Dortmund on Wednesday and Bayern Munich on Saturday. IMOTGP predicts to wins for the defender!

Across the pond, Seattle's Jordan Morris showed why he is considered the savior of MLS as he scored his first goal. The Sounders say the party is just getting started. There were other MLS matches as well that were played and some goals were scored!

In England, the title race has heated up with Leicester City's lead over Tottenham cut to five points. It's not as close as the Spanish race which has the top three teams separated by one point but since it's England, we'll say this race is the greatest story in sports.

One of the key players for the Foxes is former Schalke man Christian Fuchs, known for his hilarious YouTube videos. Fuchs recently gave an interview to the Guardian and let this interesting tidbit be known: his family lives in New York and he will move to the States to play. This means the 30-year-old should be eligible to join MLS for the 2021 season when he reaches the minimum age requirement!

And one more item: Union Berlin hotshot Bobby Wood denies he is joining the Hamburg team destroyed by Dortmund. 'Woody' is third in the Zweiteliga with 17 goals.