Soccer Thread 2013-14

[Grover]

Originally Posted by path12

Oh, and though the intro Saturday was kinda cheesy it was awesome to see him in rave green. With Dempsey sitting behind EJ and Martins that is a attack that I think is as good as many in Europe, certainly not to the level of the elites but competitive.

I would call it a mid-table attacking trio at best.

[path12]

Originally Posted by Grover

I would call it a mid-table attacking trio at best.

I think it's a bit better than that, but still that would qualify as "as good as many in Europe", no?

[sovereignstar v2]

Gutless move by Dempsey. He had a contract at Spurs and he could've stuck it out and proved he's good enough for them, which he is.

[bhlloy]

lol, Eddie Johnson comparable to many in Europe. 2 goals in 30 odd games in the Championship not too long ago and widely considered one of the worst strikers ever to play for Cardiff.

Dempsey and Martins are still pretty decent though.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

Gutless move by Dempsey. He had a contract at Spurs and he could've stuck it out and proved he's good enough for them, which he is.

+1

Maybe this is more my frustration - feels like he "took the easy way out"

[MrBug708]

How Seattle's stunning Clint Dempsey deal got done - Soccer - Grant Wahl - SI.com

But he also wants other MLS owners to step up to the plate. At one Board of Governors meeting, he told his brethren that someone needs to sign Mexican star Javier (Chicharito) Hernández sooner rather than later.

Los Angeles and Toronto were also interested in ponying up for Dempsey, multiple sources said, but Toronto (which is working on its own Designated Player deals) accepted that it was better for the league if Dempsey were playing in a U.S. city.

"I think it was important that [Dempsey] ended up ... how do I say this politely? ... not in Los Angeles," said Roth. "Because from a perception standpoint it would make MLS look essentially like a one-team league when it came to important international players. The Red Bulls are probably in there as well. But if not us, who? We double the attendance of everybody else [in MLS]. We're in the top 25 in the world in attendance. I had promised the team if there was an available star player we would get him, and I thought he was a perfect match for Seattle."

[sovereignstar v2]

[MrBug708]

66,800 tickets sold for the Seattle v Portland game on the 25th.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Hate to see something like this happen. The guy seems pretty upset about it.

Bradford City mascot steps down after becoming too skinny for the job | Dirty Tackle - Yahoo! Sports

[Flasch186]

They could easily use this marketing wise to their advantage....maybe one of the easiest opportunities Ive seen in recent years...im sure theyll screw it up.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

Fantastic

[Grover]

Stoke signing Juan Agudelo from the Revs on a free when his contract expires in January.

lol.

[GoldenEagle]

Stoke America?

[britrock88]

Thinking I'll get behind Stoke for the season...

[OldGiants]

Is there going to be any reason to watch Fox Soccer Channel any more? I flipped ahead on the program guide and all it shows is endless repeats of 'Being Liverpool.'

Will they show Italy again? Or any other leagues from around the world?

[Marc Vaughan]

I'm near cancelling my DirectTV sports subscription - last week there was ONE Championship match on, today I can't even locate one ... really frustrating as in previous years they've had good coverage of the league.

[Critch]

Originally Posted by OldGiants

Is there going to be any reason to watch Fox Soccer Channel any more? I flipped ahead on the program guide and all it shows is endless repeats of 'Being Liverpool.'

Will they show Italy again? Or any other leagues from around the world?

This is Fox Soccer's last week, on the 17th it's rebranded as Fox Sports One. It'll be college football, nascar and the occasional Champions League game.

Italian football will be on Bein Sports again, this year.

[DaddyTorgo]

AUGUST 18TH BABY!!!! SUPERCOPPA!!! TIME TO BEGIN THE SCUDETTO DEFENSE IN STYLE!!!!!

[murrayyyyy]

Originally Posted by Critch

This is Fox Soccer's last week, on the 17th it's rebranded as Fox Sports One. It'll be college football, nascar and the occasional Champions League game.

Italian football will be on Bein Sports again, this year.

It's a win lose depending on which league you like. With NBCsports streaming every game live I'll be able to watch the Jacks all season and they never seemed to be on Fox or ESPN last year.

[whomario]

Bundesliga starting this weekend.

Bayern with a decently easy 3:1 win yesterday. Couple issues defensively against a technically sound Gladbach squad, stuttering offensively at times but the individual class of Robben and especially Ribery was enough there. None of the new arrivals got to play (Götze still injured, Thiago was ill) and Martinez only played a few minutes.
Also, this happened :



2 handball penalties committed by the same player within 40 seconds ...


Today, Leverkusen with a good win.

And of course, Dortmund 4:0 win at Augsburg, with new signing Aubameyang scoring 3 goals. That guy´s speed is amazing and looks totally effortless. I´m used to speed on the team with guys like Reus and especially Blaszykowski, but with Aubameyang it looks insanely easy. Kind of like the Usain Bolt of soccer.
Mkitahryan still out with that ankle injury, might be back next week.

[Grover]

Cardiff have broken their transfer record for the third time this summer by signing Gary Medel from Sevilla. Sky Sports wasn't reporting the figure in their story, I haven't checked elsewhere.

Could be a cracking signing, I'm guessing somewhere between £10-12m for him. He had been linked with Arsenal and United many times in the past couple of years.

[bhlloy]

The Chilean Bulldog... if he can stay on the field, he'll be an incredible signing for us. Had a reputation in Spain for shutting down the elite players, so I'm excited. Figure I've heard is 11m (pounds)

Jefferson Montero (Ecuadorian winger playing in Mexico) could be the next signing, after that we need a left back and maybe another center back and I'm feeling decent about us staying up. Lot of quality in the midfield and up front now.

[MrBug708]

Crystal Palace needs to start getting more creative with some of their signings

[bhlloy]

To be fair to Palace, they don't have the 60 million (and counting) of Malaysian money that's been put into Cardiff this offseason

They also still have their heritage and play in the correct colours but that's another story

[MrBug708]

True enough. Holloway said that he expects to make about 6 signings still, so we'll see what happens

[OldGiants]

Originally Posted by Critch

This is Fox Soccer's last week, on the 17th it's rebranded as Fox Sports One. It'll be college football, nascar and the occasional Champions League game.

Italian football will be on Bein Sports again, this year.

Huh, I'd have to pay extra for Bein, so that's a non-starter. And stock car racing is shit. Have to see if I can drop Fox.

[SirFozzie]

Not quite correct, I think FSC's last day is in september when it becomes FXX (a split of FX, they're splitting comedy/drama)

August 17th, SPEED becomes Fox Sports 1,and FUEL likely becomes Fox Sports 2 (it hasn't been formally announced, but all the signs (notes to cable companies, bits of the FS1 website, etcetera) point to that)

[sovereignstar v2]

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

I'm near cancelling my DirectTV sports subscription - last week there was ONE Championship match on, today I can't even locate one ... really frustrating as in previous years they've had good coverage of the league.

I didn't even know any American stations covered the Championship. What channel used to cover it and how can DirecTV be held culpable if they no longer are as long as they provide said channel?

[SirFozzie]

He gets the sportspack for BeINSport, which holds the rights to the English Championship. If BeIN Sport isn't showing the championship, the other rights they have (Italian, Spanish and French leagues) don't interest him that much.

[bhlloy]

Yeah, in previous years there's been at least 2-3 games on every weekend

[SirFozzie]

They had one game on this weekend (Leeds Leicester), and next week the schedule gets crowded (Ligue 1's already started, La Liga in Spain starts the 17th, and Serie A on the 24th) I see one Championship game on BeINSport Play (which has the overflow matches) next week, but BeIN sport doesn't post their main channel's schedule till thursday or friday.. they do have a generic English Championship game scheduled for Saturday.

[MrBug708]

GOALKEEPERS (3): Cody Cropper (Southampton), Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton)

DEFENDERS (7): John Anthony Brooks (Hertha Berlin), Geoff Cameron (Stoke City), Edgar Castillo (Club Tijuana), Brad Evans (Seattle Sounders FC), Michael Orozco Fiscal (Puebla), Michael Parkhurst (Augsburg), Tim Ream (Bolton Wanderers)

MIDFIELDERS (8): Alejandro Bedoya (Nantes), Michael Bradley (Roma), Joe Corona (Club Tijuana), Mix Diskerud (Rosenborg), Fabian Johnson (Hoffenheim), Jermaine Jones (Schalke), Sacha Kljestan (Anderlecht), Danny Williams (Reading)

FORWARDS (5): Jozy Altidore (Sunderland), Terrence Boyd (Rapid Vienna), Eddie Johnson (Seattle Sounders FC), Aron Johannsson (AZ Alkmaar), Bobby Wood (1860 Munich)

[bhlloy]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

True enough. Holloway said that he expects to make about 6 signings still, so we'll see what happens

Chamakh is a good signing. Always looked decent when he was give a chance at Arsenal

[MrBug708]

Donovan is pissed at Cudicini right now for the Galaxy and I wouldnt be surprised to see a European move sooner than later

[Grover]

Hammers snag Downing for £6m from Liverpool. That's £22m paid for Carroll and Downing. Liverpool paid £55m for them.

He should do well on the left, hopefully Jarvis can get himself together and settled in after a terrible first season. They need to produce crosses for Carroll to score and he can with service.

Shaping up to be a solid squad for West Ham, just need to find another quality forward or two. Heard we're being linked with Troy Deeney, but so are Spurs.

[SirFozzie]

Ah, the joys of sixth-division football.. Paddy Power pays a team to change their names to stars of the past and present, (so Messi is going to play with Beckham, Cryuff and Beckenbauer).

Messi, Maradona, Cruyff and Beckham all on the same team? It's true... sort of - | FOX Soccer Blog | FOX Soccer on MSN | FOX Sports on MSN

[MrBug708]

Cleared for tomorrow

[MrBug708]

1130 start time for the USA-Bosnia game!

[saldana]

To say that play by Johnson was f'n horrible is as much of an understatement as saying our jerseys are horrible...terrible way to start, smh

[MrBug708]

Slovenian ref

[BishopMVP]

Jozy, Brooks and maybe Mix looked good... rest of the team not so much in that 1st half.

[saldana]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

Jozy, Brooks and maybe Mix looked good... rest of the team not so much in that 1st half.

I very badly want to punch anyone named Jones...and the ref

[AlexB]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

Chamakh is a good signing. Always looked decent when he was give a chance at Arsenal

Have to pick you up on this! For me, he looked really good for the first three months and then was absolutely atrocious for the rest of his Arsenal career!

[BishopMVP]

What a 5 minute span for Jozy. Remember when everyone was bemoaning his lack of touch on the ball? I vote every young offensive player like Brek Shea and Juan Agudelo should stop chasing EPL money and go to Holland for a couple years.

I'm also loving Johannson's game. Didn't make the most of his two shots, but some great little turns, always attacking the D, a nice angled pass through the defense, some hustle on a clearance.

[BishopMVP]

Are you kidding me? Jozy on a free kick! Kid is on fire.

[murrayyyyy]

well that escalated quickly...

[MrBug708]

Jozy!

[Easy Mac]

Hat Trick

[Easy Mac]

Altidore: "Hurry up with my damn croissants."

[murrayyyyy]

Is this a FIFA cheat mode where 10 goals will be scored in the last 10 mins?