The European football thread

[bababui]

i'm going to see Barcelona tomorrow!!!

Anyone in the greater SoCal area who wants tix go here

http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/09003CCF8F2D2FE6

[rudel.dietrich]

Friendlies really dont mean a thing. Chelsea will roll on to a Premiership title, Liverpool will be in the top 5 despite looking downright horrid in all of their friendlies.
Celtic looked awful in the preseason but are crushing everyone in the SPL.

Friendlies are a nice way to raise some money but the players on the good teams just mail in their performances.

[ukhotstove]

Originally Posted by theasfl

the MLS All-Stars just beat Chelsea 1-0 in an exhibition...even if its the preseason, that still shouldn't happen.

Obviously this doesn't mean the MLS is better than possibly any league above nationwide...but this does help the league.

This isn't a knock on the MLS as it will help the league because people who don't know the sport or are fresh to the sport will think it's a big thing and maybe start to watch MLS games, on the other hand anybody who does know football wont even bat an eyelid as all it was for Chelsea was a way of trying to break the US market.

[ukhotstove]

Coventry City v Sunderland on Sky Sports

Niall Quinns first game in charge of Sunderland in a competative game, both playing 4-4-2.

Coventry City 2 V Sunderland 1
Ricoh Arena
Capacity 32,000
Attendance 22,366

Attachment 52599

Coventry
A Marshall
D McNamee
M Heath
E Ward
M Hall
C Birchall (Thornton 74)
S Hughes (booked)
M Doyle
G McSheffrey (goal 78) (Whing 86) Man of Match.
D Adebola (Hutchinson 67)
S John (goal 71)

Subs: L Steele (not used), A Whing, J Tabb (not used), D Hutchison, K Thornton

Sunderland
B Alnwick
R Delap
K Cunningham
S Caldwell
D Collins
T Miller
G Leadbitter (Kyle 80 )
D Whitehead
L Lawrence (booked)
S Elliott
D Murphy (goal 52) (Stead 76)

Subs: D Ward (not used), S Wright (not used), J Stead, K Kyle, R Elliott (not used)

Ref: C Foy (merseyside)

Full match report.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot..._1/5226768.stm

[ukhotstove]

Sunderland took the lead through Daryl Murphy but Coventry hit back through Stern John and Gary McSheffrey to win 2-1, Stern Johns goal was a beauty from the edge of the penalty box were the D meets the box on the right handside he curled it into the top left hand corner with his left foot.

Coventry probably deserved it more with the ammount of chances they had but Sunderland will be down as they had more of the ball.

[bababui]

That was very cool UKHS. Hope to see more of it throughout the season.

The only thing that bothers me about English football is the 5 subs maned rule. Why only 5? It makes things hard for me in FM. I need 3 MF replacements named because they tire easily. That means I have to gamble that my GKdoesnt get himself injured.

[Herd Fan]

Chelsea is certainly unfit and the loss to MLS doesn't mean much, but my Lord does JM's arrogance rub me the wrong way. I would love to see Chelsea crash and burn in the Prem this year.

[boilermaker]

I can't wait for the season to start and I can't wait to see those Chelsea players crying on the field when Liverpool raises the League trophy.

[ukhotstove]

Originally Posted by boilermaker

I can't wait for the season to start and I can't wait to see those Chelsea players crying on the field when Liverpool raises the League trophy.

Only two things going to stop Chelsea and that's if the FA punish them with this poaching thing with Leeds and knock points of them or club harmony, you can't play all the stars at once so going to be hard to please them all.

[ukhotstove]

Originally Posted by bababui

That was very cool UKHS. Hope to see more of it throughout the season.

The only thing that bothers me about English football is the 5 subs maned rule. Why only 5? It makes things hard for me in FM. I need 3 MF replacements named because they tire easily. That means I have to gamble that my GKdoesnt get himself injured.

Thank you, thought I'd just give some airtime to the clubs that people wouldn't take much notice of. It was a big game yesterday as Sunderland are a well supported club with plenty of history and Coventry were in the Premiership/1st Division for years until recently.

The subs issue we'll get there eventualy, wasn't really that long ago that we didn't have any then moved to 1 sub then 2 and to where we are now with 5. I think we even had a stage were we had 3 subs but one had to be a goalkeeper, the laws on subs are harder in some league's though aren't they ? think I'm right in thinking some countries you have to have so many from that country or so many under 21's and so on.

[ukhotstove]

Bababui how was the game yesterday ? maybe a little report on the game ? I've also edited the Coventry and Sunderland post to include the goalscorers, subs and bookings.

[ukhotstove]

Two things of note just come in.

1. Liverpool will not be playing in Israel as there game against Maccabi Haifa as been switched to a neutral ground with Dynamo Kiev's stadium the favourite at the moment, other games involving Israeli clubs have also been switched.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...pe/5251556.stm

2. Ashley Cole looks like to have played his last game for Arsenal as he isn't involved in the Champions League game against Dinamo Zagreb, this stops him from being cup tied so looks like he's on his way to Chelsea or Madrid, they do say it's because of fitness but I don't really buy that.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...al/5251684.stm

Also for you non league fans here's a nice article about the Conferance.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...nf/5176496.stm

[boilermaker]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqTyTNuH50E

Chelsea/MLS All Stars highlights.

[bababui]

Originally Posted by ukhotstove

Bababui how was the game yesterday ? maybe a little report on the game ? I've also edited the Coventry and Sunderland post to include the goalscorers, subs and bookings.

A quick recap:

It was a beautiul late Cali afternoon: mid 70's, no humidity. There must have been 80,000 people at the historic LA Coliseum...mostly fans of Chivas of Guadalajara. Chivas is famous for only using Mexican players. No foreigners, please.

The first half was booorrriinnngggg. No Ronaldhino or Messi. It was basically scrimmage quality back and forth with few chances.

The second half. Much better. Ronaldhino enters. He roams the left half of the pitch showboatging, making spectacular passes and having a lot of fun. Even the heavily Chivas crowd was cheering every time he touched the ball.

The second half was played at a higher level with several good goal scoring chances. Gudjonson scored the first goal of the game for Barca. He beat the keeper but the ball bounced off the post. he gathered the rebound and buried it. Chivas pulled even late in the match on a set piece. They sent 3 players charging the goal on a free kick and one player headed the ball past the goalee.

It was a lot of fun. Maybe because it was an exhibition, the game had a light fun atmosphere that allowed the crowd to enjoy the play of both teams.


Here is the LA Times recap




Their name and their fame preceded them to Los Angeles, none more so than Ronaldinho, who caused camera flashes to sparkle like gold dust in the Coliseum twilight Sunday evening.

For months, soccer fans in the area had talked about the summer visit of FC Barcelona, the defending European and Spanish champion, and its game against Mexican power Chivas de Guadalajara.

A more mouth-watering clash of club teams could hardly be imagined, which is why a sellout crowd of 92,650 showed up at the Coliseum.

That number set two records. It was the largest crowd to watch a club match in the U.S. and the largest soccer crowd ever at the Coliseum, surpassing the 91,585 who turned out to see Mexico play Argentina in 1999.

The game didn't quite live up to the billing, but both coaches pronounced themselves satisfied with the 1-1 tie, especially Guadalajara's Jose Manuel "Chapo" de la Torre, who enjoyed a bizarre day.

De la Torre had to split his Chivas players into two squads. The first played a Mexican league game against Toluca on Sunday morning, losing, 1-0, after which De la Torre had to catch the private jet chartered by team owner Jorge Vergara so that he could make it to Los Angeles in time to coach the other half of his team.

He arrived 15 minutes late, but the trip was worth it, he said.

"I don't know if anyone has done this before," he said of coaching two teams in two countries in the same day. "It was quite an experience."

Barcelona has made five visits to the U.S. since its first tour in 1937, but this was the first trip to Los Angeles.

Given that, it was a pity that the setting did not come close to matching Barcelona's own state-of-the-art Nou Camp stadium and its immaculate playing surface. The Coliseum was fine, but its playing surface was deplorable.

Don Garber, Major League Soccer's commissioner, was more than a little angered at the faded, patched-up, uneven field that spoiled not only the nightcap that was televised live back to Spain, but also the MLS game that preceded it.

"I'm furious about the field," Garber said. "It's an embarrassment to the city of Los Angeles. It's disrespectful to the teams we have brought here and to the progress the sport has made in this country.

"There are lots of places we could have brought this game. It's not a great day for the Los Angeles Coliseum."

Matters did not improve when, midway through the second half, two sprinklers came on in Barcelona's goal area while the game was in progress.

Shortly after this unexpected display, which caused only a brief delay, the goals finally arrived.

Brazil's Ronaldinho, who played only the second half, created the first, sending a pass through the Guadalajara defense to Eidur Gudjohnsen of Iceland.

Gudjohnsen, who appeared to be about two yards offside, slammed a shot against the left post, then slotted the rebound into the net past goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez, who earlier had made a fine save on a Ronaldinho shot.

No offside call came from referee Brian Hall, and Gudjohnsen's 74th-minute goal stood.

Guadalajara tied it up nine minutes later when forward Adolfo Bautista sent a cross in from the right and Diego Martinez leaped to head the ball powerfully past goalkeeper Victor Valdes.

Guadalajara fielded four of the six players it had on Mexico's World Cup team, the only absentee being defender Carlos Salcido, whose World Cup performance earned him a $4-million move to PSV Eindhoven in the Dutch league.

Barcelona's Dutch coach, Frank Rijkaard, made more sparing use of his stars. He started Cameroon's Samuel Eto'o and Mexico's Rafael Marquez, but kept Argentina's Javier Saviola and Lionel Messi on the bench, saving them for the next two games on the tour — against Club America in Houston on Wednesday and against the New York Red Bulls in New Jersey on Saturday.

He also was grateful that the Coliseum visit had not damaged his multimillion-dollar team.

"Obviously, the field wasn't in great condition," he said, "but that's what was available. Thankfully, we didn't suffer any injuries."

As for Guadalajara, forward Omar Bravo said: "I would have preferred to play in Toluca today."

Goalkeeper Sanchez echoed the sentiment, saying: "We tied, but what was more important was to win in Toluca, and we didn't get that."

[ukhotstove]

Nice always like hearing another fans account of a game specially one that I didn't see and teams ie Chivas who probably wont ever see part from highlights on TV, I'm off work from Friday so may nip down and watch Leigh RMI in their mid week game against Farsley Celtic next Tuesday 15th and probably go watch them on the Saturday against Redditch as Wigan Athletic are away at Newcastle.

[bababui]

Originally Posted by ukhotstove

Nice always like hearing another fans account of a game specially one that I didn't see and teams ie Chivas who probably wont ever see part from highlights on TV, I'm off work from Friday so may nip down and watch Leigh RMI in their mid week game against Farsley Celtic next Tuesday 15th and probably go watch them on the Saturday against Redditch as Wigan Athletic are away at Newcastle.

I'd like to trade my match for yours. is Farsley a newly promoted tean in the ECN? I have never heard of them. Leigh had better get some result from the match against Redditch. Good luck against Newcastle. Hopefully you can get at least a point.

UKHS..there is an OT Premiership Fantasy league

http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...d.php?t=128741

I'd like to invite you to join if you havent already.

[darkhorse]

Originally Posted by bababui

Is Farsley a newly promoted tean in the ECN? I have never heard of them.

Yes.

http://www.farsleyceltic.co.uk/history.html

[Sdpm100]

For those interested in the format and structure of non-league football in England, you can't go far wrong by going to Tony Kempster's great website.

http://www.tonykempster.btinternet.co.uk/gridsindex.htm

[bababui]

Great site!!

[ukhotstove]

Originally Posted by bababui

I'd like to trade my match for yours. is Farsley a newly promoted tean in the ECN? I have never heard of them. Leigh had better get some result from the match against Redditch. Good luck against Newcastle. Hopefully you can get at least a point.

UKHS..there is an OT Premiership Fantasy league

http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...d.php?t=128741

I'd like to invite you to join if you havent already.

Already have done, AFC Springfield. 1 point against Newcastle I'm expecting all 3, unless they bring in a big signing can't see them troubling us as in 3 games last season they didn't out play us and we won 2 games against them and that was with Shearer and Owen, imo Newcastle haven't improved if anything they've taken a step back were as Wigan have upgraded.

I know it's a different season and things have changed and that teams will be more ready for us this season, but with the signings we've gotten I'd be dissapointed with anything lower than top 10 but hoping that I'll be planning 1 or 2 European day trips in the 2007/08 season.