Soccer Thread 2011-2012

[bhlloy]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

oops

Awfully confident for a team with one game to play and no room to slip up, against an equally motivated team.

I hope City win, but it would be pretty funny to see them slip up now as well. A lot of presumption going around.

[DaddyTorgo]

Aaargh - the fucking commentators on the Milan derby are fucking ruining the suspense for me!!

I guess at least I won't be having a heart attack though.

[whomario]

I just realized that Juve hasn´t lost a game this season in the Serie A, that´s pretty amazing

Must admit that i only hoped Klose doesn´t re-injure himself, need him to be healthy this summer for Germany (no matter how many goals Gomez scores, the NT needs Klose to be at their best with their style of play)
Good to see him back today and looking good allready after being subbed in.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by whomario

I just realized that Juve hasn´t lost a game this season in the Serie A, that´s pretty amazing

Must admit that i only hoped Klose doesn´t re-injure himself, need him to be healthy this summer for Germany (no matter how many goals Gomez scores, the NT needs Klose to be at their best with their style of play)
Good to see him back today and looking good allready after being subbed in.

Ssssh...we have one more week left...don't want to jinx it!!!!

Although...to be honest - I'm so happy right now that whatever!!

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by whomario

I just realized that Juve hasn´t lost a game this season in the Serie A, that´s pretty amazing

Must admit that i only hoped Klose doesn´t re-injure himself, need him to be healthy this summer for Germany (no matter how many goals Gomez scores, the NT needs Klose to be at their best with their style of play)
Good to see him back today and looking good allready after being subbed in.

Not only that, but they HAD (as of last week) the 4th best "time of possession / possession %" of any team in Europe.

[DaddyTorgo]

/dancing in the streets

WOOO!!!

[whomario]

preliminary germany roster (27 man, will get cut to 23) for the Euro :

Goal: Manuel Neuer (26 Jahre, Bayern München), Tim Wiese (30, Werder Bremen), Marc-André ter Stegen (20, Borussia Mönchengladbach), Ron-Robert Zieler (23, Hannover 96)

defense: Holger Badstuber (23), Philipp Lahm (28), Jerome Boateng (23, alle Bayern München), Marcel Schmelzer (24), Mats Hummels (23, beide Borussia Dortmund), Per Mertesacker (27, FC Arsenal), Benedikt Höwedes (24, Schalke 04)

Midfield: Bastian Schweinsteiger (27), Toni Kroos (22), Thomas Müller (22, alle Bayern München), André Schürrle (21), Lars Bender (23, beide Bayer Leverkusen), Sami Khedira (25), Mesut Özil (23, beide Real Madrid), Marco Reus (22, Borussia Mönchengladbach), Sven Bender (23), Ilkay Gündogan (21), Mario Götze (19, alle Borussia Dortmund), Julian Draxler (18, Schalke 04), Lukas Podolski (26, 1. FC Köln)

Forwards: Mario Gomez (26, Bayern München), Miroslav Klose (33, Lazio Rom), Cacau (31, VfB Stuttgart)

just 7 nominated defenders seems too few to me, wouldn´t have hurt to take at least another true Full Back (Only Lahm and Schmelzer are, while oposite Lahm likely Boateng will start and Howedes back up and both are CBs normally).

Biggest surprise is propably Julian Draxler, even though from rival Schalke i approve of getting him that first glance at things (95% chance he´ll get cut for the final roster). Only 18 years old and allready a starter for the No3 team in Germany. Not quite sure yet if he has real star potential, but if you play CL at 18 you obviously are doing stuff right.

[Butter]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

I hope City win, but it would be pretty funny to see them slip up now as well. A lot of presumption going around.

No it wouldn't. It would be pretty funny for ManU to have lost the title after presuming THEY would be champions with City so far back with so few to play.

[DaddyTorgo]

I hate how some videos won't embed on the board for some dumb reason that nobody can figure out. GRRRR

Originally Posted by players' reactions

Buffon
“On the evening that Juventus Stadium was unveiled I said: “I belong to this club. It’s a club which has made history and we must honour it”. The next day I said: “We’ll win the Scudetto this year”.
Barzagli
“We’re absolutely delighted. The title race was between us and Milan, but I think it’s a deserved Scudetto victory.”
Bonucci
“It’s wonderful. We’ve demonstrated our desire by winning a Scudetto in the true Juventus way. We’ve shown with great performances - such as the ones against Inter, Milan and Napoli - that we deserve to win Scudetto number thirty.”
Chiellini
“When you concede very few goals it’s down to everyone. We’ll celebrate tonight, but we want to end the season unbeaten and win the Coppa Italia.”
Marchisio
“I’ve been waiting for this Scudetto since I broke into the first team. Both the players and fans have suffered over the past two years. The manager has perhaps been the most important aspect. He’s given us identity and the desire to win.”
Pirlo
“It’s a deserved title that we wanted from the start of the year. We’ve played well and we’ll enjoy the moment. I came here to win and I’ve managed to do so.”
Borriello
“It’s all down to the group. The team that clearly deserved this Scudetto came out on top.”
Matri
“It’s a strange and wonderful feeling. None of us would have expected this at the start of the season and we’ve gradually gained awareness and believe. It’s a deserved title.”
Del Piero
“We’re celebrating a Scudetto success that we’ve all fully deserved. What happened tonight repays me the many difficult years, I’m mainly thinking about 2006... I remember everything from that year. And that’s also why today’s Scudetto has a special taste. It’s a great story and I’m happy to have been part of it.”
Quagliarella
“It’s my first Scudetto and it’s an indescribable joy. Being unbeaten makes you feel truly invincible. My first thought is for my family. They know how much I suffered after my knee injury and appreciate how important this victory is to me.”

[whomario]

Ibrahimovic championship run comes to an end, he had won the national title with his teams 8 years running since 03/04 (back at Ajax) prior to this season.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by whomario

Ibrahimovic championship run comes to an end, he had won the national title with his teams 8 years running since 03/04 (back at Ajax) prior to this season.

He is a beast. Still wish we could have kept him at Juve. he would have been a hell of an addition.

[SirFozzie]

And West Ham score, so that should do it. Cardiff need three to tie (edit whoops, no away goals rule).. I don't think Cardiff have it in them

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

And West Ham score, so that should do it. Cardiff need three to tie (edit whoops, no away goals rule).. I don't think Cardiff have it in them

*KEELS YOU*

[SirFozzie]

Heheheh. DT tried to claim on Facebook that Juventus A) have 30 titles, and B) Had fair play for ALL of them.

Of course, that means he's a raving lunatic following a corrupt team..

JUVE, JUVE VAFFANCULO., FORZA HELLAS VERONA!

(Verona in the playoff spots in Serie B, and one point out of first place with three to play.. I want to see the Derby dell Verona next year!)

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Heheheh. DT tried to claim on Facebook that Juventus A) have 30 titles, and B) Had fair play for ALL of them.

Of course, that means he's a raving lunatic following a corrupt team..

JUVE, JUVE VAFFANCULO., FORZA HELLAS VERONA!

(Verona in the playoff spots in Serie B, and one point out of first place with three to play.. I want to see the Derby dell Verona next year!)

A)
30 it is.

B) I don't recall saying that. If the whole system is corrupt though then you can't strip the titles from one piece of the system and award them to another.

Look at all the calls that Milan got last year, and this year. Ridiculous. How many penalties were there in the Milan derby this weekend? 18?

__________________
If I've ever helped you and you'd like to buy me a coffee, or just to say thanks, I have my Bitcoin and Ethereum addressed listed below :)
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---

Last edited by DaddyTorgo : 05-07-2012 at 12:48 PM.

[SirFozzie]

The defense "The other teams are being favored by the refs too" doesn't carry water with me, I'm not a fan of those teams either.

[Grover]

Hammers are going to Wembley!

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

The defense "The other teams are being favored by the refs too" doesn't carry water with me, I'm not a fan of those teams either.

30 is the number.

Originally Posted by Agnelli

“This is our thirtieth title achieved on the pitch, and nobody will take them away from us. Moreover, if I consider the ongoing law proceedings in Naples, the 2004/05 championship wasn’t deemed as altered, while the 2005/06 season wasn’t even investigated. Juventus continue to battle to reach treatment equality, under several aspects: sport justice, ordinary justice and our life. Treatment equality is a fundamental topic for us. The three stars on our chest? Our fans will enjoy nice surprises.”

[SirFozzie]

I'm sorry, but to claim the Moggi scudettos isn't just wrong, it's delusional.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

I'm sorry, but to claim the Moggi scudettos isn't just wrong, it's delusional.

Why should Inter get to claim them then? That's BS. It's the same shit I dislike when they make a college sports program vacate wins but don't make them return the titles or award the titles to somebody else.

If Inter are going to claim them then we will too. Anyways - as Agnelli's quote alludes to - there's a lot more that's still been coming out about those times.

[SirFozzie]

Fine. No one gets them then.

But to say the Old Lady were champions that year?

Nope. Homey don't play that.

Multiple Juventus officials jailed for multiple years. That's way different than an ineligible player.

Calciopoli: Former Juventus Director Antonio Giraudo Sentenced To Three Year Jail Term - Goal.com

[Grover]

Brilliant.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Grover

Hammers are going to Wembley!

Can you leave Gold, Sullivan, Brady and Allardyce at Upton Park?

J/K

Congrats

[SirFozzie]

So, here's the games of interest:

Title:
Man City (v QPR)
Man Utd (@ Sunderland)

City has a +8 goal difference advantage : City must match United's result to win the title (barring Utd putting nine or more against Sunderland)

Champions League (3rd and Possibly 4th)

Arsenal 67 (@ WBA)
Tottenham 66 (v Fulham)
Newcastle 65 (@ Everton)
Chelsea 61 (@Liverpool, vBlackburn)

The top team out of this is guaranteed a Champions League spot, 4th place depends on the result of the Champions League final (If Chelsea beat Bayern, they take away the final Champions League spot from 4th place)

The tie breaker may come down to Goals Scored (Arsenal have a +24 Gpal Differential, Tottenham +23, and Newcastle +8, Chelsea +21). Arsenal will beat Tottenham on goals scored if they tie, I believe).

Relegation Fight:

Only two teams really at risk for the final spot (Aston Villa theoretically could be relegated, but they'd have to lose by about 17 goals to go down)

QPR 37 (-22) @ Man City
Bolton 35 (-31) @ Stoke

Realistically, QPR must lose (likely) and Bolton must win (not as likely) for Bolton to send QPR down.


So, the breakdown:

Guaranteed Champions League
Man City
Man Utd

Possible Champions League/Guaranteed Europa League
Chelsea (guaranteed as FA Cup winner, could qualify for CL two ways (Champions League champion or placing) or Europa League by league position, if they qualify for either competition, the spot would drop down to the next league spot, as the losing FA Cup finalist (Liverpool) have already qualified for Europa League))

Possible Chamipions League/Europa League/Out of Europe
Tottenham
Newcastle

Guaranteed Europa League
Liverpool (League Cup Winner)

Anyone want to write up a table based on all the possible results?

[MylesKnight]

WIGAN!!

A squad that pretty much everyone penciled in for relegation last Fall may end up with, dare I say, 43 points..

6 Wins, 4 Draws and only 3 Defeats in their last 13. Wow!!

[Grover]

I just can't see Bolton beating Stoke away.

[-apoc-]

Stoke has been absolutely terrible since January. I would not be the least bit surprised if they lose at home to Bolton. They have only 18 points in 18 games.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Anyone want to write up a table based on all the possible results?

Is this a good enough alternative?
(I just hope I programmed all the alternate endings correctly)


Minor edit: I replaced the attachment with a sheet that's a bit harder to break. No password protection or anything, just hiding more stuff that you don't need to see or need to be able to edit.

[miami_fan]

So when is the yard sale in Ibrox?

American Bill Miller pulls bid to buy struggling Glasgow Rangers - ESPN

[AlexB]

As we're talking Glasgow there will not even be a yard sale: anything put out in the yard will immediately be nicked before it can be sold! Which is actually probably more accurate than I realised when I started typing this!

[Grover]

Holy God the new Man United kit is ugly.

[whomario]

Europa League final Athletico Madrid vs Atletic Bilbao kicks off right now !

That new stadium in Bucharest looks awesome

[Grover]

Originally Posted by whomario

Europa League final Athletico Madrid vs Atletic Bilbao kicks off right now !

That new stadium in Bucharest looks awesome

Go Athletic! I love Bielsa and his tactics.

[whomario]

Falcoa with the 1:0, awesome goal. Basically from a standstill just into the penalty area he curls it into the top corner using his left foot

[miami_fan]

So when can we expect the winning manager to arrive at Stamford Bridge?

[whomario]

Falcao, wow

[Grover]

Originally Posted by whomario

Falcao, wow

Two brilliant goals. Incredible show he's putting on.

[Grover]

Mario, what can you tell us about Stale Sobakken, who is rumored to be the next Wolves manager. I saw he won a bunch of Danish league titles, but got fired from Cologne... what's he like to do tactically?

[whomario]

Originally Posted by Grover

Mario, what can you tell us about Stale Sobakken, who is rumored to be the next Wolves manager. I saw he won a bunch of Danish league titles, but got fired from Cologne... what's he like to do tactically?

I haven´t watched a ton of Cologne matches, so this is propably not entirely accurate, but i´ll try it :


- I think he prefers to play 4-4-2 (2 DMs and 2 offensive minded wide midfielders/wingers), but played 4-2-3-1 later in the season due to injuries (and simply having to try sth else with their record)

-He has a very "modern" and somewhat radical approach defensively with lots of zonal marking and not just a mix of zonal and man but true zonal marking. For example he want the weak side defenders to stay on the weak side as much as possible to avoid matchup problems inside, doesn´t encourage double teaming by defenders but lays that responsibility on the DMs almost entirely.

-Has his defense play far up the pitch and the back-4 and the midfield stay close and compact.

-Pressure is there but not allways but in spurts.

-Worked well with Copenhagen (saw a couple of their games when he was there) but failed miserably with Cologne as they conceded 75 goals in 34 matches (11 more than any other Bundesliga team). And their goal keeper was pretty much universally regarded as their best player during the season...

-Simply put, the players never really bought into the concept and also weren´t very good to begin with.
I think his tactics are very advanced and can be very successfull, but won´t work if the players don´t commit to them. It is not a style of defending that can work playing half-assed.

-Did not show a lot of talent dealing with the media and made some very weird decicions. For example his first ever decicion was to strip Podolski of the captaincy to "balance the responsibilities" (as Podolski aparently was to busy being the folk hero and best player) which immdiately had the media in a frenzy, Podolski pissed and the team confused.


Hope that gives you an idea

[SirFozzie]

Here's a trivia question for you all:

This nation's football team is the only team to have played West Germany or a combined German national tournament in official matches (excluding pre-professional Olympic matches) and win every time they played. What nation is this?

[Katon]

East Germany?

[AlexB]

According to Wikipedia there are two correct answers: katon's plus one more

[whomario]

German Cup Final today with the best possible pairing : Dortmund vs Bayern Kick Off is 2pm eastern (8 PM central european)

And with the CL Final a full week away i doubt Bayern will hold back (especially after loosing 4 in a row against Dortmund), just as much as i don´t think Dortmund isn´t concentrated anymore after the league title.
Could be a classic, at least i hope so

It´ll feature 13 german NT players for the Euro (5 for Dortmund, 8 for bayern) and 5 more guys who´ll have starting roles at the European Championship in June (Poland´s Kuba, Lewandowski, Pisczek + Robben and Ribery)
For Dortmund Götze and Bender likely won´t start though, both not yet at 100% after injuries.

Lineups :

Weidenfeller - Piszczek, Subotic, Hummels, Schmelzer - Gündogan, Kehl - Blaszczykowski (Kuba), Kagawa, Großkreutz - Lewandowski

Neuer - Lahm, Boateng, Badstuber, Alaba - Kroos, Schweinsteiger - Robben, T. Müller, Ribery - Gomez

[Critch]

Originally Posted by whomario

German Cup Final today with the best possible pairing : Dortmund vs Bayern Kick Off is 2pm eastern (8 PM central european)

It's on ESPN3 this afternoon, looking forward to it.

An other game worth looking out for online is Fenerbahce v Galatasaray, last game of the Turkish league season. Galatasaray are 1 point clear of 2nd place Fenerbahce, so whoever wins is champion. Thats 12pm eastern so barring any holdups or riots, it should be finished by the German Cup Final kickoff.

[whomario]

5:2 Dortmund ! A little bit of luck and horendous defense by Bayern, but you´ve got to make those count and they did that. Every mistake they were they and capitalized immediately.

I almost felt bad, partly due to rooting for Bayern in the CL final and also because some of the NT players for Bayern looked awfull and we need them all in shape ...

[SirFozzie]

At Halftime:

City 1-0 QPR. Bit of a weird goal, from reading it was shot AT the keeper who got two hands on it but defelected it up but it came down off the underside of the crossbar and into the net. (according to the BBC feed)

Man Yoo 1-0 Sunderland thanks to (you guessed it) Wayne Rooney.

In the race for third/fourth/fifth: Arsenal gave up 2 goals to West Brom and will drop to fourth (2-2 tie so far) if Tottenham (1-0 lead over Fulham) win. Newcastle has pretty much clinched the fifth spot (losing 2-0 to Everton at halftime)

And in the relegation fight, UH OH QPR.. They're losing as I mentioned above, and Bolton have come back from a goal down to lead 2-1 against Stoke. As is stands, QPR are standing on the trap door, and in 45 minutes, it's going to gobble them up if results stand..

[SirFozzie]

QPR EQUALIZE, and everything's changed!

[kingfc22]

QPR!!!

[SirFozzie]

Arsenal have scored a third, and at least for now, reclaim third place.

[kingfc22]

And QPR has a guy sent off for out d-bagging Tevez.