Soccer Thread 2009-10

[SirFozzie]

I used to be a part time contributor to a local soccer program on the radio (aimed more at the Revs, then MLS).

[cthomer5000]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

I've never understood the ability of someone like Steven Gerrard to get such power on shots... I can't throw a baseball more than 75mph, but I understand a pitcher throwing 90+. And it's not like I have a weak leg - I've punted a football over 60 yards.

Just perfect form I imagine. Same thing from Tom Huddlestone of Tottenham. He can look lazy as hell, and the ball looks like its going to tear someones face off if it makes contact.

Shot power is the one clear-cut missing element of our domestic league (Major League Soccer).

[cthomer5000]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

I used to be a part time contributor to a local soccer program on the radio (aimed more at the Revs, then MLS).

That's really the problem.

We have:

-Euro Shows
-Euro-based shows that broadcast from North America
-MLS team based shows
-shows that will talk about US soccer and mention MLS in passing
-bad shows that will focus on MLS

[cthomer5000]

Wish this was longer and showed it live action and replay... but rookie Steve Zakuani had probably the worst miss I've ever seen in my live soccer viewing life on Sunday. Seattle was down 1-0 at the time. They did end up getting an equalizer later (that Zakuani set up). But wow was this epic:

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by cthomer5000

Just perfect form I imagine. Same thing from Tom Huddlestone of Tottenham. He can look lazy as hell, and the ball looks like its going to tear someones face off if it makes contact.

Shot power is the one clear-cut missing element of our domestic league (Major League Soccer).

There are a couple guys who have cannons in MLS - Beckham obviously, I've seen Holden hit a few and Davy Arnaud seemed to have one a week early this season.

Zakuani's miss is bad no doubt, but I've seen more than my share of missed one-touch half-volleys inside the six. Get your knee over the ball - and take a 2nd touch if necessary, you have the time. It's not as bad as the guys who have an open net or 1v1 with the keeper and send it 15 yards wide.

[cthomer5000]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

There are a couple guys who have cannons in MLS - Beckham obviously, I've seen Holden hit a few and Davy Arnaud seemed to have one a week early this season.

Zakuani's miss is bad no doubt, but I've seen more than my share of missed one-touch half-volleys inside the six. Get your knee over the ball - and take a 2nd touch if necessary, you have the time. It's not as bad as the guys who have an open net or 1v1 with the keeper and send it 15 yards wide.

Arnaud really is the only guy who consistently scores bombs. Dave van den Bergh (Dallas) is good for the occasional blaster (had one this weekend in his return to NY). Stu Holden as well... Houston is going to have to multiply his pay like 5-6 times to even think about keeping him beyond this contract. But when you watch games from both Europe and MLS regularly (and i think im about 50/50 on this)... it becomes the preeminent difference between leagues. You can freely dare guys to beat you from outside the box here with very little threat.

[SirFozzie]

Watching the ESPN2 HD feed of Pool-Villa.. my god, HD makes soccer a million billion times better.

[Big Fo]

Altidore scored his first goal for Hull City in the Carling Cup today.

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Watching the ESPN2 HD feed of Pool-Villa.. my god, HD makes soccer a million billion times better.

HD makes a big difference, of the sports I watch I'd say only hockey benefits more.

[Big Fo]

A flying kick to the face occurs 28 seconds into the video. This incident happened in the Bolivian league and the player could face a three year ban in addition to criminal charges.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

A flying kick to the face occurs 28 seconds into the video. This incident happened in the Bolivian league and the player could face a three year ban in addition to criminal charges.

holy shit. that's some unreal shit!!!

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by cthomer5000

But when you watch games from both Europe and MLS regularly (and i think i'm about 50/50 on this)... it becomes the preeminent difference between leagues. You can freely dare guys to beat you from outside the box here with very little threat.

I wonder how much of this is talent and how much is style from the way they've grown up. To make gross generalizations, whenever I've seen an English-speaking team play in the US at almost any level they have a competent player in goal, while I get the sense from the many ethnic-based teams (and presumably foreign teams) I've seen play they usually stick one of the weaker and smaller kids back there. Add on that we jump our U11's up to full field, and no one's scoring from outside the 18 in the US while it's a viable strategy in other countries. Thus kids here don't practice or look for shots from 25+ yards. Even at the MLS level the quality of goalkeeping is much higher than comparable European leagues.

-Holden is (and should be) gone to Europe no matter what Houston offers.
-I wouldn't mind seeing a better replay on that youtube clip to see if #9 actually elbowed him in the jaw or was just trying to stay up after being knocked off-balance.
-Too bad there's no video of Jozy's goal - sounds like he hit a 25-yarder into the low corner.
-Everton signed Diniyar Bilyaletdinov today. I like him on Russia, but that could be Hiddink's scheme.

[SirFozzie]

Farcial end to today's Swansea - Scunthorpe League Cup game

85th Minute of a 1-1 game: Swansea player sent off (Swansea down to 10 men)

Extra Time: Swansea player injured (Swansea has used all its subs, so Swansea's down to 9 players). Then, with 10 minutes left in extra time: Ref gives a controversial hand ball call in the box, Scunthorphe knocks home the penalty to take the lead.

Swansea then has two more players sent off (one for two yellows, one for straight red).. down to 7..

Then another swansea player takes a knock.. normally that means that they'd be down to six players.. but guess what? You need at least seven players to continue the game..

so the ref makes one of the injured swansea players step back onto the pitch, so they can play out the last few minutes of the game

[Blade6119]

Arguably the two top prospects in the US National Team youth system, Renken and Gyau, just signed multi-year deals for Hoffenheim in Germany:

http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_b...offenheim.html

[AlexB]

Originally Posted by Jari Rantanen's Shorts

Callum Davenport is in a serious condition in hospital after he & his mum were stabbed last night.

BBC NEWS | UK | England | Man held over footballer stabbing

Little more news: looks like Davenport is recovering, but he nearly had to have one leg amputated. Turns out his assailant was his sister's boyfriend.

[Passacaglia]

I guess I haven't been paying enough attention in here. You guys would be disappointed in me -- our team pretty much lost at pub trivia last night because, when asked who Tim Howard played for, I said I was sure it was Manchester United. Someone else on my team thought the same thing, too, so between the two of us, I was sure we would be right. Weird.

[SirFozzie]

he used to, but switched back two years ago :P

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

he used to, but switched back two years ago :P

Yeah, I looked it up on wiki last night. I was positive that someone here said something about him playing for Man U around the time of one of the USA games this summer. Then I searched here and found something about Everton right away. Ah, well.

[whomario]

Originally Posted by Blade6119

Arguably the two top prospects in the US National Team youth system, Renken and Gyau, just signed multi-year deals for Hoffenheim in Germany:

Soccer By Ives: USA youth stars Renken, Gyau sign deals with 1899 Hoffenheim

good choice by them. Hoffenheim is a good place for young players to be at, they have been building up great facilities and a great youth program while they rose to prominency. Seriously, they have some seriously awesome practie possibilities there.
The playing level will be good as well in the Youth league they are going to play in compared to what they would face in the US.

[Big Fo]

Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill blames Championship Manager for the lack of patience shown by modern day fans

“I encounter it all the time,” he confessed. “Most managers do. It’s nothing unusual.

“I think less so than nowadays.”

“I didn’t realise until recently there was a game called Championship Manager.

‘‘There’s people up all night doing this and then they want to know why you haven’t signed Jimmy McHagen from Real Sociedad when you’ll find that Jimmy died four years earlier!

“And then you could have got him for £2.5 million when his price on the thing was £6.5 million. It’s great.”

I'll forgive him for using CM instead of FM in his comments. Pretty harsh on the researchers though.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill blames Championship Manager for the lack of patience shown by modern day fans

“I encounter it all the time,” he confessed. “Most managers do. It’s nothing unusual.

“I think less so than nowadays.”

“I didn’t realise until recently there was a game called Championship Manager.

‘‘There’s people up all night doing this and then they want to know why you haven’t signed Jimmy McHagen from Real Sociedad when you’ll find that Jimmy died four years earlier!

“And then you could have got him for £2.5 million when his price on the thing was £6.5 million. It’s great.”

I'll forgive him for using CM instead of FM in his comments. Pretty harsh on the researchers though.

He clearly hasn't played FM. Perhaps MV and the boyz should send him a free copy so he can see just how up-to-date the DB is.

[illinifan999]

Pot 1	Pot 2
Barcelona	Lyon
Liverpool	Inter
Chelsea	Real Madrid
Manchester United	CSKA Moscow
AC Milan	FC Porto
Arsenal	AZ Alkmaar
Sevilla	Juventus
Bayern Munich	Rangers

Pot 3	Pot 4
Olympiakos	VfL Wolfsburg
Marseille	Standard Liege
Dinamo Kiev	Maccabi Haifa
VfB Stuttgart	FC Zurich
Fiorentina	Rubin Kazan
Atletico Madrid	Unirea Urziceni
Bordeaux	APOEL Nicosia
Besiktas	Debrecen

[illinifan999]

Groups:

Group A: Bayern Munich, Juve, Bordeaux, Maccabi Haifa
Group B: Manchester United, CSKA Moscow, Besiktas, Wolfsburg
Group C: AC Milan, Real Madrid, Marseille, FC Zurich
Group D: Chelsea, FC Porto, Atletico Madrid, APOEL
Group E: Liverpool, Lyon, Fiorentina, Debrecen
Group F: Barcelona, Inter Milan, Dynamo Kiev, Rubin Kazan
Group G: Sevilla, Rangers, Stuttgart, Unirea Urziceni
Group H: Arsenal, AZ, Olympiacos, Standard Liege

Kaka vs. AC Milan, Eto'o vs. Barca, Ibra vs. Inter will make for some interesting reunions during the group stage.

Wow ManUtd.

[dacman]

Sigh....once again the English teams are getting pathetically easy draws.

[DaddyTorgo]

seriously

[dacman]

Man U -- CSKA Moscow
Liverpool -- Lyon (OK that one's interesting)
Chelsea -- Porto
Arsenal -- AZ Alkmaar

[illinifan999]

Even going to make ManUtd show up to the group stage UEFA?

[Easy Mac]

Does group G even get an auto bid to the next round? Shouldn't the top 2 teams from that group just have to play the worst 2 teams that didn't move on from the other groups?

[SirFozzie]

Man, some of those groups are just stacked compared to others

C and F are the groups of death.

[SirFozzie]

File this under: WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?

Bayern Munich, off to their worst start for 43 years, have announced they are doing a promotion with a local brewery to distribute nearly 7,000 litres of beer at the next home game.

Bundesliga: Bayern offer free beer to suffering fans - Europe - ESPN Soccernet

[illinifan999]

The best part of that story is the picture of Ribery in a traditional Bavarian costume.

[Big Fo]

Man Utd's draw could have gone better and could have gone worse, CSKA Moscow and Besiktas are on the easier side from Pots 2 and 3 while Wolfsburg are the best team from Pot 4. At least they weren't drawn in the same group as Real Madrid, putting off the inevitable media shitstorm of Ronaldo's return to Old Trafford.

Groups G and H are weak with F looking the strongest.

[cthomer5000]

Originally Posted by illinifan999

Groups:

Group A: Bayern Munich, Juve, Bordeaux, Maccabi Haifa
Group B: Manchester United, CSKA Moscow, Besiktas, Wolfsburg
Group C: AC Milan, Real Madrid, Marseille, FC Zurich
Group D: Chelsea, FC Porto, Atletico Madrid, APOEL
Group E: Liverpool, Lyon, Fiorentina, Debrecen
Group F: Barcelona, Inter Milan, Dynamo Kiev, Rubin Kazan
Group G: Sevilla, Rangers, Stuttgart, Unirea Urziceni
Group H: Arsenal, AZ, Olympiacos, Standard Liege

Early guesses

A - Bayern, Juventus
B - Man U, Wolfsburg
C - Madrid, Milan
D - Chelsea, Atletico
E - Liverpool, Lyon
F - Barcelona, Inter
G - Sevilla, Stuttgart
H - Arsenal, Olympiacos


Probably only 3 of those weren't 1 or 2 seeds.

Good draw for Rangers I would say.... it's doable to get out of that group. Easy draws for English teams... I'll be stunned if they don't all win their groups.

Milan-Madrid is a juicy matchup.

[illinifan999]

Wesley Sneijder has confirmed he is moving to Inter. Let's hope he can be the creative force we've needed for the last few seasons. May even make his debut against Milan this weekend for the derby.

[DaddyTorgo]

ugh...no wesley! i used to like you! now i want you to break an ankle!!

Juve got a nice CL draw! Bayern is beatable as is everyone else there!

[Big Fo]

European awards:

GK - van der Sar
DF - Terry
MF - Xavi
FW - Messi

All - Messi

Not bad I guess, I agree Xavi and Messi. Real Madrid and Inter didn't make it far in the CL so Casillas and Julio Cesar weren't even nominated despite being better than van der Sar, Cech, and Valdes imo. Terry winning over Vidic or Pique was surprised me but I guess he's a bigger name. Only center-backs were nominated but I would have picked Maicon. They should separate fullbacks/centerbacks and wingers/strikers.

Good move for Inter and Sneijder, he's too good to not be a starter and that position was a weakness for Inter.

Word is Robben is close to joining Bayern Munich, him and Ribery would make damn good pair of wingers.

[whomario]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

Word is Robben is close to joining Bayern Munich, him and Ribery would make damn good pair of wingers.

they still have a Goal Keeper that is not even a Top10 keeper in germany (possibly not even Top 15), a central defender pairing of a bench player and a 19 year old getting his first bundesliga games, a right back that is a world class left defender that somehow thinks he´s better on the right and convinced his coach of the same and a choice of 2 left backs of which one can´t play defense (pranjic) and one can´t play offense (Brafheid).
So yeah, 25 mio well spent ...
Love to see Robben in the Bundesliga though, fun player to watch !

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by cthomer5000

Big time soccer podcaster... everything I listen to in order of preference.


Football Weekly with James Richardson
Informative and genuinely funny. Great chast of characters who also have a ton of insight on the game.

frequency: twice a week (Mon/Thu)


Chapper's Premier League Podcasts
Mark Chapman is host (606 host sometimes) and former ref Graham Poll is a regular. I find Poll to be an extremely compelling personality that offers genuine real-world insight on refereeing.

frequency: once a week (Monday)


5 Live Football Daily
Concise recap (8-25 minutes... varies wildly) on the day/weekend's major events. This is another BBC one. Highly recommended because it's daily and they have a big variety of guests and opinions.

frequency: usually daily, Monday-Friday


ESPN Soccernet
Slightly blander than the others, but covers more leagues and gives some lip service to Major League Soccer.

Note: They also do an American soccer podcast on Friday (on the same feed) with a different cast. The content is good but the host has ZERO personality. I mean seriously... you calibrate your measurements of personality against this guy (Jen Chang i think?). If you care about specific attention to MLS and americans abroad though... it's worth listening.

frequency: twice a week (Mon/Thu) for the regular pod. once a week (Fri) for the American pod.


Sportsweek
Sunday morning show that does not stick exclusively to soccer. I usually just fast-forward to the soccer parts if they're talking cricket or track and field. You get really good in-depth interviews on this show, good guests. The interviews are generally good because the host is a real prick/great journalist... he asks tough questions, doesn't let people squirm away without direct followup questions, etc. This show can range from 'meh' to highly enlightening depending upon guest, etc. It's why I rate it fairly low.

frequency: once a week (Sunday)


606 Football Phone-In
Post-game call in show from the UK that happens right after the days game's end. Lots of people overly excited or overly dramatic about their team's fortunes (or lack of). I used to really love this... but find it much less entertaining these days.

frequency: minimum twice a week (Sat/Sun), sometimes as much as four (Wed/Thu). Midweek shows are not a permanent fixture, but do happen 'most' weeks. Usually just one midweek show... but during late stages of Champions League (where there are usually a lot of English teams playing) they kick it up.



Unfortunately I've yet to find anything that is both a) focused on Major League Soccer and b) good. I'm considering starting a show myself because of that. I love the EPL... but i'm honestly a bigger fan of MLS despite the obvious drop in quality. It's my local league. I find it silly that so many people would rather fantasize about a supermodel (any European league) than have sex with their wife (MLS). They also just magically want the domestic league to be great without supporting it's existence in any way. No idea how it's going to grow if huge soccer fans continue to turn up their nose at it.

Have you tried any of the shows on The Champions Soccer Radio Network? They have different podcasts you could try. Match Fit USA seems ok, they have an MLS show as well but I have only heard it once so far and I can't really remember it right htis second.

[Cringer]

No mentions in here about the Dynamo's CCL game in Panama the other day? The game ended in a 1-1 draw, Houston playing down a man. When I say down a man, I mean the game ended 8 v 9. Stu Holden was ejected for the first time in his career when he received two yellow cards in what I read was about 10 seconds, supposedly for decent.

Oh, and the lights start going out at one point, then finally did in stoppage time. The Dynamo players stood in the middle of the field in case fans came onto the field (the fans who started throwing stuff at them a few mintues earlier when their team tied up the game). After 15 minutes some of the lights came back on (about half) and they finished the game. The Dynamo then had to stand in the field once again until the stands were cleared 15 minutes later. Once they got to the locker room the power went out again.

Must have been fun.

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

World Soccer Daily with Steven Cohen will be returning Monday as World Football Daily. Not positive, but I read somewhere it may use a subscription model to avoid needing sponsors.

I've also read that the Guardian's Weekly podcast is excellent - has anyone heard that one?

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by cthomer5000

H - Arsenal, Olympiacos

Dude, it's like I don't even know you anymore!

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by dacman

AZ Alkmaar

No knock on you personally here, but that usage of names requires some education. "AZ Alkmaar" is reduncant, as the A in AZ stands for Alkmaar.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

No knock on you personally here, but that usage of names requires some education. "AZ Alkmaar" is reduncant, as the A in AZ stands for Alkmaar.

to be fair though, i see it listed as AZ Alkmaar more often than not. maybe not there, but certainly elsewhere i think it's the most common way i've seen it.

[dacman]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

No knock on you personally here, but that usage of names requires some education. "AZ Alkmaar" is reduncant, as the A in AZ stands for Alkmaar.

Tell that to UEFA -- uefa.com*-*UEFA Champions League -- they've listed them that way for as long as I can remember.

[SirFozzie]

I so want to smack Wenger in his smarmy face:

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has accused Uefa of conducting a "witch-hunt" after it charged Eduardo with diving in the Champions League clash with Celtic.

Striker Eduardo appeared to dive to win a penalty last Wednesday and Uefa could ban him for up to two games when its disciplinary body meets on 1 September.

"I find it a complete disgrace and unacceptable," said Wenger.

"It singles out a player to be a cheat and that is not acceptable. We will not accept the way Uefa has treated this."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/foot...pe/8223917.stm

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

Well, Wenger admitted this past season that he lies about this stuff to the press, so I wouldn't get too worked up about it.

[cschex]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

I so want to smack Wenger in his smarmy face:

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has accused Uefa of conducting a "witch-hunt" after it charged Eduardo with diving in the Champions League clash with Celtic.

Striker Eduardo appeared to dive to win a penalty last Wednesday and Uefa could ban him for up to two games when its disciplinary body meets on 1 September.

"I find it a complete disgrace and unacceptable," said Wenger.

"It singles out a player to be a cheat and that is not acceptable. We will not accept the way Uefa has treated this."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/foot...pe/8223917.stm

He does have a point about the ridiculous inequity of it. Dirk Kuyt got nothing looked at in 2007 in the CL and that dive was worse than Eduardo's. I also personally think if it had been against some random Romanian side we wouldn't have heard a peep about this.

[path12]

Originally Posted by Cringer

No mentions in here about the Dynamo's CCL game in Panama the other day? The game ended in a 1-1 draw, Houston playing down a man. When I say down a man, I mean the game ended 8 v 9. Stu Holden was ejected for the first time in his career when he received two yellow cards in what I read was about 10 seconds, supposedly for decent.

Oh, and the lights start going out at one point, then finally did in stoppage time. The Dynamo players stood in the middle of the field in case fans came onto the field (the fans who started throwing stuff at them a few mintues earlier when their team tied up the game). After 15 minutes some of the lights came back on (about half) and they finished the game. The Dynamo then had to stand in the field once again until the stands were cleared 15 minutes later. Once they got to the locker room the power went out again.

Must have been fun.

I saw the second half of this last night on FSC. The ref was really awful, but since I'm enjoying rooting against Houston I found the whole thing kinda great.

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by path12

I saw the second half of this last night on FSC. The ref was really awful, but since I'm enjoying rooting against Houston I found the whole thing kinda great.

With all this dislike of Houston I sure hope you went to Sounders games before this year. Are you one of the 3,000 true fans?

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by dacman

Tell that to UEFA -- uefa.com*-*UEFA Champions League -- they've listed them that way for as long as I can remember.

Which is exactly why I wrote I don't blame you for writing it that way.

[Big Fo]

I can see why Wenger is mad, people dive all the time without being singled out like this. Hopefully UEFA charge every player who dives in European competitions instead of singling out Eduardo.