Soccer Thread 2009-10

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

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.

*education alert*
Depends on the source. In the Netherlands people know 'AZ Alkmaar' as AZ. You'd sound like a noob not calling it AZ. People know the club is from Alkmaar and won't artificially add the 'Alkmaar' part. The problem here is that a lot of teams here have abbriviated names (AZ, PSV, NAC, NEC, Roda JC). Internationally, they just don't seem to stick as is. There's a common sense of adding the hometown of clubs to their name. Which is understandable to get some grip on the roots of clubs. In cases of aforementioned AZ (Alkmaar-Zaanstreek Alkmaar) and NEC (Nijmegen-Eendracht-Combinatie Nijmegen) adding the city makes it redundant, and I'm sure even a lot of Dutch soccer fans don't know about the redundancy either.
*cut short to avoid making it a way too long lecture*


Anyway, AZ isn't a second seed because they sucked the last five seasons. There's a reason why they were ranked over Olympiakos. It's because the club actually had good results in the formerly named UEFA Cup. They even misses a season in Europe and still were 2nd seeds. When the UEFA Champions' League is up (I'm on it!), I'll show them some support and throw them out there as my group H winner.

[AlexB]

Originally Posted by cschex

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.

It would have been nice if it had occured for the last few years, but tbh I don't care about stuff from 2 years ago if this starts a precedent and from this point on there is retrospective video on diving and cheating.

However, I remain to be convinced that this will be a regular occurrence, and believe that cheats like Eduardo will unfortunately continue to prosper.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by cschex

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.

I dunno, the sure did play like some random Romanian side. Then again, maybe not, the average Romanian side would actually have qualified for the Group Phase.

[cschex]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

I dunno, the sure did play like some random Romanian side. Then again, maybe not, the average Romanian side would actually have qualified for the Group Phase.

Heh, true, I meant more that the media reaction wouldn't have been what it is if this wasn't a Scottish team. I have no problem with it if they establish a precedent, but this is UEFA, so it's very unlikely that happens as a regular thing.

[Blade6119]

Anyone know what channel the Man U - Arsenal game is on tomorrow? Im hoping its one of the ones I actually get, and now a pay channel.

[sovereignstar]

Originally Posted by Blade6119

Anyone know what channel the Man U - Arsenal game is on tomorrow? Im hoping its one of the ones I actually get, and now a pay channel.

Looks like Fox Soccer Channel to me. England Premier League Live Scores, Streams, Schedules, Fixtures, Results, Tables, Videos, News :: Live Soccer TV

[path12]

Originally Posted by Cringer

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?

Sort of......I'd hit 2-3 games a year, but their venue was quite aways from my area of town. But I went pretty regularly to the old NASL Sounders games back in the late 70's/early 80's, so that should count for something.

[The Jackal]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar

Looks like Fox Soccer Channel to me. England Premier League Live Scores, Streams, Schedules, Fixtures, Results, Tables, Videos, News :: Live Soccer TV

Correct. 12 EST. Psyched.

[Who]

German league started it´s 4th matchday with a pretty sad day for me as my favourite semi-local team lost with Mainz 05.
Not only did they loose but now they have all 3 goalkeepers injured ... No1 goalie was injured allready since preseason, then No2 Heinz Müller injures himself (some muscle injury, hopefully not serious) and his replacement NO3 keeper gets injured and could barely stand upright the last few minutes, first diagnose is a break in his leg


Top match tomorrow obviously Bayern vs Wolfsburg. It seems that Robben might actually play allready. Him and also Ribery (who hasn´t started a game yet due to injury and missing practice time) at least were in the first 11 during the last intersquad match in practice.
Ribery/Robben/Gomez/Olic against Grafite/Dzeko/Misimovic (Martins as a sub) . Should be fun
Then again Wolfsburg has a defense deserving of the name, so i´d give them the edge here.

[Blade6119]

Originally Posted by The Jackal

Correct. 12 EST. Psyched.

How much does the FSC channel run in cost? Says I have to order, and im tempted.

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

It's part of my "sports tier", not a la carte like Setanta.

[illinifan999]

Originally Posted by Blade6119

How much does the FSC channel run in cost? Says I have to order, and im tempted.

I have mediacom, and it costs an extra $9.95, but I get about 100 other channels with it. It would be worth it for FSC imo, but the addition of espnnews, national geographic, another history channel, a science channel, and a couple of movie channels that only play oldies is just icing.

[Big Fo]

Originally Posted by Who

Top match tomorrow obviously Bayern vs Wolfsburg. It seems that Robben might actually play allready. Him and also Ribery (who hasn´t started a game yet due to injury and missing practice time) at least were in the first 11 during the last intersquad match in practice.
Ribery/Robben/Gomez/Olic against Grafite/Dzeko/Misimovic (Martins as a sub) . Should be fun
Then again Wolfsburg has a defense deserving of the name, so i´d give them the edge here.

Lots of good stuff on tomorrow with that game, Man Utd - Arsenal, the Milan derby, and the LA derby.

And now because I'm giddily anticipating Man Utd's first big game of the season I shall present a completely one-sided look at some of the best recent moments in Man Utd - Arsenal history, with youtube videos for the small handful of fellow fans on here:

One of the most memorable games from Man Utd's treble season was a 2-1 win over Arsenal in the FA Cup Semifinal replay remembered for Peter Schmeichel's injury time penalty save on Dennis Bergkamp and THAT Ryan Giggs wondergoal.

Man Utd snap Arsenal's 49 match unbeaten run in the 2004/5 season. After Rooney expertly conned the referee with a blatant dive Ruud van Nistelrooy exorcised his demons by slotting home the resulting penalty. Also well-remembered by United kicking the living hell out of Jose Reyes who was never the same afterward. The infamous "Pizzagate" incident occurred in the Old Trafford tunnel after the match as an argument broke out with Wenger calling RVN a cheat then having a shouting match with Ferguson before Cesc Fabregas threw a slice of pizza at Ferguson, ruining his suit.

Captains Roy Keane and Patrick Vieria had words in the tunnel at Highbury that same season before an exciting game featuring a Man Utd comeback from 1-0 and 2-1 and John O'Shea scored the goal of his life to clinch a 4-2 victory. Arsenal got revenge later in the year by beating Man Utd in the FA Cup final.

With Keane and Vieria no longer at the respective clubs the rivalry has lost some of it's sizzle and the results have been mixed in recent years. Arsenal won home and away in 2006/7, United did the same in 2007/8 with a dominant 4-0 win in the FA Cup to boot in which Nani nearly broke the smug-o-meter with some arrogant juggling late on. Great stuff. Last year's Champions League semifinal between the two teams didn't live up to the hype as two early Man Utd away goals in the second leg eased any pressure, one of them a 40+ yard screamer by Ronaldo.

It's going to be a tough game tomorrow, it's early yet but Arsenal look much improved from the team that has finished fourth in three of the past four seasons and this is Man Utd's first big game without Ronaldo and with a return to the more traditional 4-4-2. Pre-emptive damage control: even with a loss tomorrow they'll still have gotten off to a better start than last season's title-winning campaign.

[Easy Mac]

I think of they kick it within 15 yards of goal, tottenham can be assured crouch will get it with his head.

Speak of the devil.

[Big Fo]

Yeah I just tuned in but within ten minutes or so he had one hit the bar, one cleared off the line, and then scored.

Birmingham tie it up, crappy defending there.

[Big Fo]

Great strike from Arshavin from 30 yards, maybe Foster should have saved it though. 1-0 Arsenal at the half.

Ferguson inexplicably picked Giggs over Berbatov leaving Rooney isolated up front. Giggs has given the ball away at least a half dozen times, he's been terrible. Not many chances for either team so far.

[whomario]

Originally Posted by Who

German league started it´s 4th matchday with a pretty sad day for me as my favourite semi-local team lost with Mainz 05.
Not only did they loose but now they have all 3 goalkeepers injured ... No1 goalie was injured allready since preseason, then No2 Heinz Müller injures himself (some muscle injury, hopefully not serious) and his replacement NO3 keeper gets injured and could barely stand upright the last few minutes, first diagnose is a break in his leg


Top match tomorrow obviously Bayern vs Wolfsburg. It seems that Robben might actually play allready. Him and also Ribery (who hasn´t started a game yet due to injury and missing practice time) at least were in the first 11 during the last intersquad match in practice.
Ribery/Robben/Gomez/Olic against Grafite/Dzeko/Misimovic (Martins as a sub) . Should be fun
Then again Wolfsburg has a defense deserving of the name, so i´d give them the edge here.

wtf, i accidentily signed in with my old acount that i lost password for years ago (email not longer valid) . So that´s what i call an interesting under-conscious experience. Maybe this new gift can help me win the lottery ? Should try it out.

Haven´t yet heard of the results as i am right now watching the saturday summary in free tv, never follow the german league games online.

@ Big Fo : Yeah, great weekend for soccer.

btw : Just saw footage of the game yesterday. What a fucking energy by the goalkeeper of Mainz 05. He collapsed as the game finished ... No breakage though, good news.

[Easy Mac]

Soft penalty by Rooney. Probably followed te letter of the rule, and Alminoa definitely tripped Rooney, but definitely not a penalty in spirit, especially since Rooney put his touch into the 10th row.

But that was a brilliant header by Diaby.

[whomario]

Bayern up 3-0 to Wolfsburg with a few minutes to go. Robben gut subbed in at the half and scored the 2nd and 3rd goal, what a way to start at a new club ! Get bought Thursday, arrive Friday, score 2 goals against the defending champions at home on Saturday And Ribery with the assist on both goals as well !

To bad they aren´t playing together in an english speaking country as otherwise there´d be potential for the greatest name-calling in history : Robbery

[Big Fo]

Great win even though they didn't play too well. Berbatov and Nani should have iced it late on but then we would have missed Wenger kicking a water bottle and being sent off before refusing to leave the pitch

[The Jackal]

That was quite depressing.

[illinifan999]

Hell of a first shot by Sneijder. Amazing power.

[illinifan999]

Milan crying after every tackle is ruining what is otherwise an exciting first 15 minutes.

[illinifan999]

GOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

[Big Fo]

Eto'o went down easily but Gattuso shouldn't drape his arm over him like that, 2-0.

Loved Motta's finish on the first one.

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

Craziness from Gattuso. What is he thinking.

[illinifan999]

Hahahaha Gattuso, what a dumbass.

[illinifan999]

Give us another Maicon!!!!!!!!!!!!

[illinifan999]

The way they are playing right now gives me hope for the CL for the first time in a long time. I'm not talking winning it, but at least getting past the group stage and first round.

[illinifan999]

That was probably the most beautiful game I have ever watched Inter play.

[Big Fo]

Galliani did not look amused in the stands.

[law90026]

Arsenal were robbed last night.

And Rooney is a wanker.

[Big Fo]

Rooney is a hero

If your comment is in regards to him going down easily over Almunia's idiotic challenge then that's a bit rich with players like Eboue in the squad. Disregard that if you were just hating on him in general.

Arsenal only had three shots on target, none in the last forty minutes. Both goals they gave up were their own damn fault. Let's not pretend they played particularly well (Man Utd didn't either of course). They were not robbed, they just blew it.

[BishopMVP]

I like Aston Villa's team a lot. If it's possible for an EPL/English national team player to be underrated, Ashley Young is it.

Back over here, NE Revolution tearing it up in MLS lately. A healthy Shalrie Joseph proving that he's the best field player in the league.

[MIJB#19]

*Shameless advertising*
The FOFC 2009/2010 UEFA Champions' League prediction competition thread is up at: 2009/2010 UEFA Champions' League Prediction Competition - Front Office Football Central .

There's a link in my signature as well.

[Big Fo]

Two straight wins for the Red Bulls mean they won't go down as the worst team in MLS history.

After all the controversy involved with Beckham's return the Galaxy are doing a lot better with him than they were without him.

Did anyone else catch the DC United - Chicago game this weekend? Right at the end two teammates (DC keeper Wicks and defender Burce) almost got in a fistfight, something I'd only seen one happen in a Newcastle United game a few years back. Together they both kept a clean sheet in a win, that should help them patch things up.

An early contender for worst tackle of the European season, avoid watching it if broken legs make you squeamish:



The offender Witsel was the Belgian league's player of the year last season.

[Coffee Warlord]

Ow.

[DaddyTorgo]

ouch. didn't look that bad in real-time from far away but on the close-up you could clearly see him just slam down on the guy's ankle. ouch

[Wolfpack]

I had to watch it a second time to really get what happened. Once I did...

[sovereignstar]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

I like Aston Villa's team a lot. If it's possible for an EPL/English national team player that was named to the PFA Team of the Year and won the PFA Young Player of the Year Award to be underrated, Ashley Young is it.

fixed

[Big Fo]

UEFA has given Eduardo a two-game ban for his dive against Celtic. I like it if they plan to do this all season for dives missed by the referee but don't like it if they are just making an example of the guy.

[Blade6119]

I think they should if the dive results in a penalty, but im not sure midfield dives are as critical.

[AlexB]

Needs to be all or nothing, otherwise you'kll just end up with players diving 19-20 yards out to win a FK at the edge of the box.

Eboue was rightly booked for a blatant dive at the weekend, McGeady should be retrospectively booked for a dive on the halfway line that resulted in an opposition player getting booked & sent off at the weekend.

Wenger's moaning, but you have to start somewhere. As Big Fo says, if everyone gets done for diving from now on, then all if good; if this is just because of the publicity then it is some real weak-assed shit.

[Ryan S]

Originally Posted by Jari Rantanen's Shorts

McGeady should be retrospectively booked for a dive on the halfway line that resulted in an opposition player getting booked & sent off at the weekend.

McGeady was sent off for that dive, the other player was not penalised.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by Big Fo

Two straight wins for the Red Bulls mean they won't go down as the worst team in MLS history.

After all the controversy involved with Beckham's return the Galaxy are doing a lot better with him than they were without him.

I'm not surprised at either of these. NYRB was a mess this(every) year, but they're much more talented than some of the expansion teams from the past, and they were losing most games by a goal. And Beckham's still one of the best offensive players in MLS.

Originally Posted by sovereignstar

fixed

I don't think Young is underrated in England, but when talking about great wingers with Americans, after the trinity of Ronaldo/Ribery/Messi (not really a winger, but still) people start rating guys like Robben, Cassano, Silva, Sneijder much higher because Young didn't play in Euro 2008 or in the CL. (This was also true of Glen Johnson and Antonio Valencia, but they're now on top 4 sides.)

[AlexB]

Originally Posted by Ryan S

McGeady was sent off for that dive, the other player was not penalised.

I get het up by diving! I realised last night that I'd erred, but with a 5.30am start I coudn't be arsed to get out of bed and change it

[Flasch186]

FWIW this season, when I ref the HS games I plan on giving yellow cards for diving. Note that a yellow card allows the kid to come back in AND they dont accumulate.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

I'm not surprised at either of these. NYRB was a mess this(every) year, but they're much more talented than some of the expansion teams from the past, and they were losing most games by a goal. And Beckham's still one of the best offensive players in MLS.I don't think Young is underrated in England, but when talking about great wingers with Americans, after the trinity of Ronaldo/Ribery/Messi (not really a winger, but still) people start rating guys like Robben, Cassano, Silva, Sneijder much higher because Young didn't play in Euro 2008 or in the CL. (This was also true of Glen Johnson and Antonio Valencia, but they're now on top 4 sides.)

Robben's a phenomenal winger when he stays healthy. Sneijder I'd argue is better in the centre of the pitch, and i tend to mentally put him there. Even if he's nominally playing wing he cuts inside more often than not. You also left out Guardado - I'd put him in there. Not necessarily above Young, but after the "trinity".

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

Was reading a Boston Globe editorial about Obama and taxes when soccer came up. I could barely believe my eyes.

As Jonathan Last recounts in The Weekly Standard, the hike in the tax rate has led top soccer stars to decline lucrative offers to join or remain with England’s most celebrated teams. Cristiano Ronaldo, Jermaine Pennant, Karim Benzema, and David Villa are among the illustrious players who have spurned the Premier League in order to play in Spain.

Hmmmmm. Something about that quote...

[Katon]

One of those things is definitely not like the others.