The Beautiful Game (everything soccer)

[MasterAblar]

European playoff match ups:

 

Portugal-Sweden

Ukraine-France

Greece-Romania

Iceland-Croatia

 

Pretty much the best possible opponent for France. Portugal on the other hand will have a hard time with Sweden.

 

Prediction to qualify: Portugal, France, Greece, Croatia.

[Nyanna al'Meara]

Awwwww yeaaah, Ablar you're the best :D I shamefully admit I haven't been following CL ...or even much of Bundesliga.... just haven't got the time, a random Bayern match here and there but mostly I'm at practice myself or too tired :OOO

 

And I've been watching more women's CL too

 

In other news my team won its first Away game on Saturday. We're unbeaten at home, but had lost everywhere else before... so YEAAAAAHHHH :D

[MasterAblar]

8 straight wins for Roma!!! What a start for Rudi Garcia...

 

England:

 

1st: Arsenal 19pts

2nd: Chelsea 17pts

3rd: Liverpool 17pts

4th: Manchester City 16pts

5th: Tottenham 16pts

 

Spain:

 

1st: Barcelona 25pts

2nd: Atletico Madrid 24pts

3rd: Real Madrid 22pts

4th: Villarreal 17pts

5th: Getafe 16pts

 

Italy:

 

1st: Roma 24pts

2nd:Naples 19pts

3rd: Juventus 19pts

4th: Hella Verone 16pts

5th: Inter Milan 15pts

 

Germany:

 

1st: Bayern Munich 23pts

2nd: Borussia Dormund 22pts

3rd: Bayer Leverkusen 22pts

4th: Hertha Berlin 15pts

5th: Schalke 14pts

 

France:

 

1st: Paris 24pts

2nd: Monaco 22pts

3rd: Lille 20pts

4th: Nantes 19pts

5th: Marseille 17pts

 

 

Arsenal play Bayer Dortmund in the Champions League this evening. Should be a great game. Also Milan play Barcelona.

 

Bit of a controversy in France at the moment because Patrice Evra said some mean things about 4 journalist and consultants, 3 of whom are former players. Really ill timed of him and not very polite, but, although I don't particularly like him, I have to say I totally agree with him about the french media in general. Can't stand them. They seem to take pleasure in stirring up trouble for a team that's already pretty much hated in France. They love to talk bad about the players but when one of them has the balls to talk back they act like he's disrespecting them. I don't agree with him very often, but Raymond Domenech, France's coach from 2004 to 2010, was totally right when he said that although it wasn't the best time, Evra no doubt said what at least half the players were thinking, not to mention quite a lot of people I know. Say what you want about Evra as a player or a person, but at least he speaks his mind, even if others may be offended. I'd much rather that than the little "try not to say anything that will get me in trouble" game that most players play.

 

 

Awwwww yeaaah, Ablar you're the best :D I shamefully admit I haven't been following CL ...or even much of Bundesliga.... just haven't got the time, a random Bayern match here and there but mostly I'm at practice myself or too tired :OOO

 

And I've been watching more women's CL too 

 

In other news my team won its first Away game on Saturday. We're unbeaten at home, but had lost everywhere else before... so YEAAAAAHHHH :D

 

I have practice or a game, either for myself or the kids I coach nearly everyday at this point. And I might be adding in practice and games on Thursdays with my school team, starting in November. So yeah, I'm kind of surrounded by it.

 

Shame the seeds are kind of messed up in the women's CL. No way Tyreso and Paris should have played each other so soon. Lyon vs Postdam and Malmo vs Wolfsburg is too soon as well for the round of 16.

 

Well I was in London for a week and hurt my ankle (again) so I only started practice back up last week. Coach was pretty happy with me though, so I'm hoping to get back on the team soon.

[MasterAblar]

Arsenal go 5 points clear! Great game and what a goal from Ramsey. Arteta, Koscielny and Mertesacker all played great.

 

Impressive from Lloris to stay on the field after taking that hit from Lukaku. Probably not too good for his long term mental health though. Villas Boas should have made him come off. Had to love Brad Friedel's expression on the sideline though.

 

Also Roma have 10 straight victories, maybe 11 today. This is getting insane.

[MasterAblar]

I came across this image as I wandered around the internet. It's during the Champions League final between Chelsea and Bayern Munich. Got to love Obama's face.

 

By the way, do British folk mind if we switch national leaders. Mine looks like he doesn't give a damn. That's just not possible. And I don't like him anyway. Please?

 

[MasterAblar]

Arsenal win in Dortmund!! If they win at home against an already eliminated Marseille, they're almost certain of qualifying.

 

Bayern and Atletico have qualified for the last 16.

[Mulk]

and over the weekend United takes the points off Arsenal and Sunderland surprises City.  Odd EPL season...

 

edit: I guess I should say, I'm an American who grew up with soccer as the playground game due to the large number of Hispanics/Mexicans that I went to school with.  They usually made me play goalie, at first because they didn't think I was athletic (white, totally nerdy looking, so they were kind of shocked when I turned out to be faster than most of them) and then because I turned out to be decent at goal keeping, but I was never really at home in the sport.  Swimming was my deal.

 

Lost track of it for a while after I got to high school, started following again in the run up to the USA world cup in 1994.  Been following as much as I can since that point.  I know more about international than specific leagues, though I watch pretty much any EPL game that comes on a regular channel, not to mention following the odd Mexican Liga matches on Univision or whatever.  I don't really have a club per se, I just enjoy the heck out of watching good soccer.

 

I'm from Texas and kinda latched onto the Houston Dynamo in MLS, a team that's a bit of a giant killer come playoff time, also enjoy the Sounders and Sporting KC.  In EPL, I've kinda devolved into the soccer equivalent of Yankee hater - anyone who can take United down is okay with me. :)  I also have to say I love it when the new promotions from the relegation zone are able to make noise.  Spanish liga is too top heavy - only a couple of teams matter.  Hard to follow Serie A from here aside from commentary on ESPN or Goal.com or whatever, Bundesliga is starting to get more coverage due to the rather obvious superiority of Dortmund and Bayern last year. 

 

Unashamed US fan in international both the women's and men's.  LOVE watching our women's team play and not just because they win - they play hard all the time.  And, oddly enough, the women's game doesn't seem to have as much diving and play acting as the men's, unless Brazil is the team playing.  Our men have qualified for 2014 in what turned out to be fairly easy fashion, hoping they can punch through to the knockout rounds and win at least one. They have the ability to do it, but consistency has never been a hallmark of the USMNT.  We don't even have a cool nickname...the only tradition we have (and it's really recent) is beating Mexico 2-0, particularly in Columbus.

 

Question for any Brit (or anyone else who knows) - why does Great Britain field whole country teams for almost everything but soccer/football and rugby?  And I guess cricket, probably.  That's confused me for a long time - to an American it looks like you're letting individual states field teams for stuff, so instead of the U.S. sending a team we would have the Texas team, the California team, the New York team and so forth.  We're far stronger as a whole and I tend to think the same should be true in Britain as well.  Hope I'm not being naive or foolish or whatever, it just puzzles me.  I ponder sometimes what England would look like with Gareth Bale and so on.

If you didn't know this about us, US International fans are real doom and gloomers.  Unlike most other sports the US fields a team for, we expect doom, even when we are leading 2-0 or more, even when we have something all but locked up.  And if we DO win the match, we start making excuses for why it wasn't a good victory.  I guess we were bad for so long we don't know how to handle being decent at it? I don't know.

[MasterAblar]

and over the weekend United takes the points off Arsenal and Sunderland surprises City.  Odd EPL season...

 

Ruined my weekend.

 

Not to big a deal I guess. It was at Old Trafford It's not as if Arsenal were totally outplayed or anything, they just lacked a little precision and speed in their passing. The effort was there. And they're still 2 points ahead of Liverpool so nothing dramatic.

 

In other news these are the goals that are up for Puskas award (best goal of the year).

 

Peter Ankersen -- August. 10, 2013 - Esbjerg fB v. Aarhus GF -- SAS Ligaen (Denmark)

Lisa De Vanna -- June. 1, 2013 - Sky Blue FC v. Boston Breakers -- NWSL

Antonio Di Natale -- April. 7, 2013 - Udinese Calcio v. AC Chievo Verona -- Serie A

Zlatan Ibrahimovic -- Nov. 13, 2012 -- Sweden v. England -- International Friendly

Panagiotis Kone -- Dec. 16, 2012 - SSC Napoli v. Bologna FC 1909 -- Serie A

Daniel Luduena -- July. 27, 2013 -- Pachuca CF v. Tigres UANL -- Apertura Mexico

Nemanja Matic -- Jan. 13, 2013 -- SL Benfica v. FC Porto -- Liga Sagres

Louisa Necib -- March. 17, 2013 - Olympique Lyonnais v. AS Saint-Etienne - D1 Feminine

Neymar -- June. 15, 2013 -- Brazil v. Japan -- FIFA Confederations Cup

Juan Manuel Olivera -- August. 28, 2013 - Nautico v. Sport Recife -- Copa Sudamericana

[Mulk]

 

and over the weekend United takes the points off Arsenal and Sunderland surprises City.  Odd EPL season...

 

Ruined my weekend.

 

Not to big a deal I guess. It was at Old Trafford It's not as if Arsenal were totally outplayed or anything, they just lacked a little precision and speed in their passing. The effort was there. And they're still 2 points ahead of Liverpool so nothing dramatic.

 

In other news these are the goals that are up for Puskas award (best goal of the year).

 

Peter Ankersen -- August. 10, 2013 - Esbjerg fB v. Aarhus GF -- SAS Ligaen (Denmark)

Lisa De Vanna -- June. 1, 2013 - Sky Blue FC v. Boston Breakers -- NWSL

Antonio Di Natale -- April. 7, 2013 - Udinese Calcio v. AC Chievo Verona -- Serie A

Zlatan Ibrahimovic -- Nov. 13, 2012 -- Sweden v. England -- International Friendly

Panagiotis Kone -- Dec. 16, 2012 - SSC Napoli v. Bologna FC 1909 -- Serie A

Daniel Luduena -- July. 27, 2013 -- Pachuca CF v. Tigres UANL -- Apertura Mexico

Nemanja Matic -- Jan. 13, 2013 -- SL Benfica v. FC Porto -- Liga Sagres

Louisa Necib -- March. 17, 2013 - Olympique Lyonnais v. AS Saint-Etienne - D1 Feminine

Neymar -- June. 15, 2013 -- Brazil v. Japan -- FIFA Confederations Cup

Juan Manuel Olivera -- August. 28, 2013 - Nautico v. Sport Recife -- Copa Sudamericana

 

I saw the Ibrahimovic one the day it happened.  That was insane.

 

kinda think this one should be up there - bicycle kick that saved Mexico from doom in the qualifying.  If they'd tied this match, Panama would have gone through with the results that happened in game 10.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6_K38uYm70

[MasterAblar]

Yeah, it'll probably win. There's a couple that would have deserved to be on here though. 

 

Umtiti for Lyon against Tottenham:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSIjm_qo4nM

 

and Mexes for Milan against Anderlecht:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9EWFCnHs5s

 

or even this one from Ibra for PSG against Anderlecht again:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYx3z7A6rPk

[MasterAblar]

 

I'm from Texas and kinda latched onto the Houston Dynamo in MLS, a team that's a bit of a giant killer come playoff time, also enjoy the Sounders and Sporting KC. 

 

 

Yeah, I'll say. Can't believe NY got knocked out like that. Shame for Henry, but maybe next year.

 

 

 

Unashamed US fan in international both the women's and men's.  LOVE watching our women's team play and not just because they win - they play hard all the time.  And, oddly enough, the women's game doesn't seem to have as much diving and play acting as the men's, unless Brazil is the team playing.  .

 

Totally agree. Brazil's women team does have that diving culture, but as a whole you're right it's far less present in the women's game. I don't really notice it all that much at this point though. Gotten used to it I suppose. And there does seem to be efforts to wipe out diving, as in completely making up a foul, rather than just amplifying one which is annoying but not wrong strictly speaking. That said if money ever starts flowing into the women's game, I expect things like diving will follow, just like flopping in basketball, and really cheating all around in just about any sport.

 

I saw the Ibrahimovic one the day it happened.  That was insane.

kinda think this one should be up there - bicycle kick that saved Mexico from doom in the qualifying.  If they'd tied this match, Panama would have gone through with the results that happened in game 10.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6_K38uYm70

 

 

Oh yeah that one should definitely have been in the list. A stunning goal and a very important one.

 

There's also Pogba vs Napoli: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7op2BEbYSs

and Wilshere's goal vs Norwich: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85RBtrvpQ2g (5 brilliant one touch passes in 2-3 seconds, followed by an immediate shot! Not even sure how you defend against that)

 

But unfortunately, you can't put them all in the list.

 

 

Anyway, Uruguay beat Jordan 5-0 and Mexico beat New Zealand 5-1 in the first leg of the World Cup playoffs, so they're both pretty much qualified. Just waiting on Africa and Europe now. We'll now for Africa this weekend, and the return leg for Europe will be next week, the first leg being this Friday!

[Nyanna al'Meara]

.....can I just....just..... *BAWL*

LYON ARE OUT OF THE WOMENS CL IN THE LAST SIXTEEN

WHAT

I CAN'T

Still not over it, nope. Upset and furiously mad. WHYYYYYYYYYYY DID YOU DO THIS TO ME OLYMPIQUE BLOODY LYONNAIS FEMININE

 

Potsdamnit.

[Nyanna al'Meara]

In other news I'm now pretty much permanently playing tip striker (not sure what it's exactly called in english) position. Whooo!

[MasterAblar]

Sorry for not answering sooner Nyanna. This has been some of the most tense 3 days of my life. You know that feeling you get during a sudden fall, like when you're on a roller coaster? Well that's pretty much how I've felt ever since Friday.

 

After France lost 2-0 in Ukraine, I felt like staying in bed forever, but I still believed the team could qualify, and thank god, THANK GOD, they proved my faith wasn't misplaced. The very idea of France not being at the World Cup in Brazil next year was terrifying to me.

 

That said today was the one most memorable days for football that I can remember. Algeria squeaked by Burkina Faso by the narrowest of margins, Portugal and Sweden played a legendary game with Ibrahimovic and Ronaldo proving their worth and beyond with 2 and 3 goals respectively. France doing something no European team had ever done by qualifying after losing their first game 2-0. Germany beating England at Wembley. South Africa beating Spain! Just unbelievable games. Between the Algerians, the Portuguese, and of course the French, Paris is going crazy tonight. Seeing the French players spraying the journalists who had been so hard on them for so long was awesome, and can't say how proud I am that the supporter at the Stade de France finally supported their team like always should. A truly memorable evening.

 

So anyway, even though Uruguay and Mexico are not officially qualified yet we pretty much know the 32 teams that will be in Brazil next year. They are:

 

• Brazil
• Argentina
• Chile
• Colombia
• Ecuador
• Ghana
• Algeria
• Cameroon
• Nigeria
• Ivory Coast
• Japan
• South Korea
• Iran
• Australia
• Spain
• England
• Germany
• Italy
• Netherlands
• Belgium
• Switzerland
• Bosnia-Herzegovina
• Russia
• Portugal
• France
• Croatia
• Greece
• United States
• Costa Rica
• Hondura
• Uruguay (leading 5-0 against Jordan)
• Mexico (leading 5-1 against New Zealand)

The draw will take place on the 6th of December.

 

Lastly I'd like to say that it's quite sad that Zlatan Ibrahimovic will not be in this World Cup. He's a truly unique player and he probably won't play in the next World Cup, but if there was any way to go out it was to push Cristiano Ronaldo into such an epic performance.

[MasterAblar]

.....can I just....just..... *BAWL*

 

LYON ARE OUT OF THE WOMENS CL IN THE LAST SIXTEEN

 

WHAT

 

I CAN'T

 

Still not over it, nope. Upset and furiously mad. WHYYYYYYYYYYY DID YOU DO THIS TO ME OLYMPIQUE BLOODY LYONNAIS FEMININE

 

Potsdamnit.

 

Yeah, saw. Missed too many occasions. The draw was messed up anyway. No way should these 2 teams have been playing each other so early.

 

In other news I'm now pretty much permanently playing tip striker (not sure what it's exactly called in english) position. Whooo!

 

Great! I've missed my last 2 practices for various reasons, but in my last match, we won 5-4 after additional time. The other senior teams in the club had their matches cancelled (stupid rain) so they came to watch us win with a goal in the last minute. Pretty awesome game!

[MasterAblar]

So.... I think it´s safe to say Tottenham won't be too pleased with that performance. 6-0 ouch.

[Lilbaz]

Don't worry. Man Utd today, nice easy game to get our mojo back.

[MasterAblar]

Agreed couldn't have asked for a better result! =)

[Lilbaz]

2-2 draw.

 

Meant the comment above as

a joke but spurs will be disappointed they didn't get a win today.

 

AVB needs a win fast or he might be looking for a new job.

[MasterAblar]

Spurs get the 2-1 win with two very nice goals and AVB might just have saved his head. Suarez played an absolutely sublime game and scored 4 (well at least 3) stunning goals to lead Liverpool to a 5-1 victory. Chelsea can thank Hazard for it's 4-1 win. City win 3-2 but were leading 3-0. Everton beats Man U at Old Trafford (lol). And Arsenal get a nice and easy 2-0 goal with some dude called Bendtner scoring a goal...

 

And Paris lost! To Evian (yes, that's the city the bottles are named after).

 

Also the World Cup draw is Friday. BE THERE!!!!!!!!

[Lilbaz]

Bit of controversy with that. France should have gone in pot 2 as they qualified through the play offs. Platini convinced them to put them into pot 4 (european pot) and randomly draw a team from pot 4 to go into pot 2.

Whichever team gets drawn will be more likely to get a tougher group.

Ofcourse platini being french had nothing to do with it.

[MasterAblar]

Well actually France being in pot 2 was an assumption made by the press based on France's lower FIFA ranking. That isn't supported by the official rules though. So, officially, there actually wasn't any foul play or rule breaking. Now would FIFA have done this if say Bosnia was lowest ranked? Perhaps not, but frankly I'm not certain of anything with FIFA anymore. And because the World Cup takes place on different continents, with the home team always seeded, this time of problem tends to pop up.

 

That said, using the FIFA rankings for anything is stupid in my opinion. They're only vaguely indicative of a team's level. This article at ESPN shows how messed up it can be. For instance the South American teams are hugely advantaged because they play 16 (or 18) qualifying matches, whereas European teams play only 10, or even 8 if you're in a group 5 like France were, and it's against lower opposition. Seeing as friendlies are worth nothing, that's how teams like Switzerland or Colombia, have gotten in ahead of the likes of Italy and the Netherlands. Absolutely ridiculous. And furthermore, the rankings used are those of October instead of November, because otherwise it would advantage teams who got in through the playoffs and therefore played 2 more competitive games than the rest. Except in France's case, this actually would have made things fairer, because France had played 2 games fewer than the rest to begin with due their group having only 5 teams. And if you take November's rankings France is no longer lowest ranked.

 

Morality of all this? DON'T USE THE FIFA RANKINGS!!! IT SUCKS!!!!

 

 

 

Also considering Platini and Blatter have a whole rivalry thing going now, I kind of doubt that they'd be doing each other favors. If Blatter was influenced by anything, it was by financial reasons.

[Lilbaz]

Think they should go to straight draws for the competition. Each team got there on merit (or being hosts). Yes you might get far tougher groups than others but thats down to luck.

[MasterAblar]

Maybe, but I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't be annoyed with a mid level team getting to, say, the quarter finals, without playing a single top side. I mean, look at who Switzerland beat to get to the World Cup. Not much merit there to be honest. Worse look at Australia (sorry aussies). You can't have the best teams playing each other right away. I'd much rather see Germany take on Argentina in the semis than in the groups. They just have to organize it better. But this is FIFA we're talking about afterall.

 

 

And what's up with the Premier League schedules too? It seems like you get the best teams all playing each other in a row every year. Can't be a coincidence.

[MasterAblar]

Hahahahahahahaha I swear this is killing me.