Official Football Thread

I hope it's not Chelsea.
For the Champions League the same.

AC Milan is my favourite and I hope it for Seedorf. I am also happy with Man U and Liverpool, teams I also like a lot. It will be an exciting end of the season! :) :ok:

About the Dutch league. It will be thrilling. Besided the top three, also other things are at stake.
Feyenoord (my poor club) has a very bad year (because of bad players due to a lack of money). Feyenoord has to battle for the 5th place, which is important for European football, next year.
 
One down, two to go.
I looked at the tables of the last few seasons and it was interesting to note that the best points tally of any team finishing second in the Premiership is 83. Now, both Man U and Chelsea will both get more than that (Man U should pass that total today).

And the team that has won has amassed the following amount of points:

2001 - 80 (Man U)
2002 - 87 (Arsenal)
2003 - 83 (Man U)
2004 - 90 (Arsenal)
2005 - 95 (Chelsea)
2006 - 91 (Chelsea)

Potentially, Chelsae could get 93 points (which I believe will be the equal second highest points achieved in the history of the Premiership - if Chelsea get 93, Man U can only equal that) and still not win the league.
 
Could this mean that the Premiership is going to turn into a two horse race, like in Scotland? Probably not. If Liverpool make the right signings in the summer, as they'll have the money, then I expect them to be challenging next season. I think Arsenal as a force are over; they should have cashed in on Henry last season and spent the money on getting a few experienced players, instead of buying young foreingers. Their lack of English players too is really quite disappointing (again) - they could have kept Pennant and Bentley, both of whom are equal or better players to Hleb, Adebeyor, Aliadiere etc. I've heard that they might have had a bad attitude in the changing room/training pitch, but surely it's the job of the manager to sort that stuff out? If Mark Hughes can get the best out of David bentley, why couldn't an experienced manager like Arsene Whinger?

About the title race, I'd forgotten that Chelsea still have Man U to play at home. In a head-to-head like that, I would fancy Chelsea, but hopefully they won't do it.
 
With Dein having spent so long in a high position in the FA - the organisation responsible for the development of young players in this country - it saddens me that he allowed his own club manager to develop foreigners. Ferguson, the man so Scottish he bleeds tartan blood, has probably been responsible for developing more English players in one season than Arsenal since Wenger took over.

Chelsea may well beat Man U at the Bridge, but that still may not be enough - if Man U do win all their remaining games, their goal difference will be still too much for Chelsea to claw back.

Chelsea's run in:
Newcastle - Away (1 point)
Bolton - Home (3 points)
Arsenal - Away (1 point)
Man Utd - Home (1 point)
Everton - Home (3 points)
87 points

Man U's run in:
Middlesbro - Home (3 points)
Everton - Away (3 points)
Man City - Away (1 point)
Chelsea - Away (1 point)
West Ham - Home (3 points)
92 points
 
What a day, what a day!!!!! Because today's FC Utrecht - PSV: 1-1 score, things turn out to be even more exciting!!

Check the standings, with only ONE round to go!!
Yes, only one round to go and three clubs can still win the championship!! (see top 6):


1. AZ                   72  81-28
2. Ajax                72  82-35
3. PSV                 72  70-24
4. FC Twente     63  65-36
5. Feyenoord      53  55-61
6. Heerenveen    52  55-42
7. Roda JC         51  40-36


AZ has the best cards! AZ (from the city Alkmaar) was the last club, other than The Big Three PSV, Ajax and Feyenoord who won the Championship. That was back in 1981, 26 years ago!!

From 1982-2006 the Champions were always PSV (12 times), Ajax (10 times) or Feyenoord (3 times)!

Next weekend will be an incredible apotheosis!

Schedule of important matches, upcoming sunday!:

Excelsior* - AZ   
PSV - Vitesse**     
Willem II*** - Ajax

sc Heerenveen - Feyenoord 
Roda JC - Heracles Almelo****
(battles for 5th place which gives access to play-offs thus a chance to qualify for CL qualifications)


* Excelsior: currently 16th (can't be 15th anymore, so they won't have much to gain vs AZ)
** Vitesse: currently 12th (not much to gain)
*** Willem II: currently 15th (not much to gain)
**** Heracles Almelo: currently 14th (not much to gain)
 
Forostar said:
sc Heerenveen - Feyenoord
Roda JC - Heracles Almelo****[/color]
(battles for 5th place which gives access to play-offs thus a chance to qualify for CL qualifications)
Click to expand...
If I read this correctly, you have x amount of the top positioned teams that automatically qualify for the Champions league and then the remaining teams up to fifth position have a play-off to determine who else qualifies?

I'm not always comfortable with play-offs as you could end up as Feyenoord is - ten points adrift of FC Twente, one place above them - and qualify for the Champions League ahead of FC Twente - all from one out-of-season game. But it's a good way of generating an extra bit of cash for the clubs.
 
Agreed Albie.

Check out this explanation about the Dutch competition from wiki ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eredivisie ) --->

European competition

As of 2005-06, the champion of the Eredivisie automatically advances to the group phase of the UEFA Champions League. The KNVB introduced a playoff system in 2005-06 for the second to ninth placed clubs. One place in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League, as well as three UEFA Cup spots are available for the best performing clubs in the playoffs. The remaining UEFA Cup place is awarded to the winner of the KNVB Cup. If this club is in the top 5 of teams a different schedule will be played, where numbers 2 to 5 are all guaranteed no worse than a UEFA Cup spot. This was the case in the first season playoffs were held, 2005-2006.

The playoffs consist of knockout (home and away) matches, according to a complex schedule:

Play_off_system_eredivisie.png


In these matches, the lowest ranked team gets the first home match. The return will be held at the opponent's venue.

Also the number 10 to 13 enter the playoffs, with the 10th ranked team facing the 13th, while the 11th team faces number 12. Then both winners meet each other in the next round and finally challenge the loser of match G for a special situation spot. The special situation spot comes in hand when the KNVB Cup winner is among the top 7 ranked teams. In that case this team is already qualified for Europe and does not need to qualify through the playoffs, resulting in the special situation spot team to get an Intertoto ticket.

The playoff system has been criticized by clubs, players and fans as the number of matches will increase. The system also makes it theoretically possible that the second-place team is forced the enter the UEFA Cup while the fifth-placed team enters the qualifying round of the Champions League.


Relegation

The club at the bottom of the league (18th) is automatically relegated to the Eerste Divisie. The next-lowest two teams (16th and 17th) play in a promotion/relegation knock-out playoff known as the Nacompetitie, in which they will face eight teams from the Eerste Divisie (before the 2005-06 season, six Eerste Divisie teams were involved). Usually, the Eerste Divisie teams that play in the Nacompetitie are the 2nd- through 9th-place teams in that league. (The actual qualification rules are more complex; more detail is provided in the Eerste Divisie page.) Teams finishing above 16th automatically stay in the Eredivisie.
 
I must admit, the Premiership is simple - top 4 qualify for the Champions league, but the third and fourth enter the CL via the qualifying rounds.

Teams 5, 6 and 7 as well as the FA cup winner and the League cup winner qualify for the UEFA cup. However, if a team wins either cup and has already qualified for the CL, this spot for the UEFA cup would normally go to the looser but with the finalist of each of the league (Chelsea and Arsenal) and FA cups (Man U and Chelsea) already almost guaranteed a CL spot, I'm not so sure how they re-arrange this.

This play offs in the Dutch league is the same as the play offs for promotion from the second, third and fourth tiers in the English league and qualification to the highly lucrative Premiership can be achieved by winning a penalty shoot-out. But there is no play off for relegation/promotion in any league in England - Scotland has this, however.
 
Here is something nobody is thinking right now (and it too far off to care for).  Last week Poland-Ukraine won the bid to host Euro 2012.  Mark it on your calendars folks!
 
Who's excited about the upcoming matches in the Champions League? :bigsmile:

That 3:2 was good news, since this means Milan just has to win (by 2) instead of, oh I don't know, by 7? (AS Roma, anyone?). And I think this score ensures that both teams will be playing at their best and taking the condition of both teams, that should mean a stunning game. Actually, I wager it'll be better than the actual final. Speaking of which, Chelsea or Liverpool? It's still up for grabs but I think Chelsea have the better chances.

In any case, it's so exciting!  :ok:
 
At 2-2 it meant that Man U had to go to Milan and score twice (if not, three times). But at 3-2, Man U don't need to score at all. I still fancy Man U as not only do they have the advantage, they are a team that can score almost at will.

And I am going to stick with a Liverpool v Man U final.

Sad state today is that Southend could be relegated should results go against them today. If Hull beat Cardiff, Southend are down. If Southend loose they are down. If Southend draw, they are as good as down (although, mathematically they can stay up, but they have to rely on Hull loosing about 5-0 twice).

However, if Leeds and Hull loose their next two, and Southend win their next two - Leeds and Hull join Luton in league one. :D

So, which is the most likely scenario? I think we all know. :(
And so they fell. Oh well, never mind - perhaps next season they could bounce back. If previous scenarios are to be judged by, Southend have dropped so rapidly to the lowest tier of the football league after being relegated from this very league before, why should we not anticipate it happening again. Eatswood will be off like a "rat out of an aqueduct". League 2, here we come. :D

Anyway, Milan have had a stark warning today about the pedigree of Man U. 2-0 down with 30 minutes to go - and they still won 2-4. Much as you may rate Kaka, it's about the team - not the individual.
 
The moment a team makes noises that they have too much "history" to be playing in the third tier, then it becomes more laughable when they do go down. The only way to be "too good to go down" is to finish outside the bottom three - like Barnsley. However, a lifeline for the Leeds is that they beat Derby 5-0 and Hull loose 4-0, they stay up.

But I'm going for both Leeds and Hull to loose, Southend to win and Leeds fans go on one almighty rampage in Derby and near on destroy the city and Hull field an illegible player. Upon the FA's investigation, they decide to dock both teams 5 points which puts them both into the relegation zone and Southend 4th from bottom. :D

Thing about the above is that I genuinely made it up before I found this. I saw this article when I went to see how many points Hull would need docking to allow the Shrimpers to finish above them. :huh:
 
Anyone else see the Champions League game yesterday? Jose 'Most magnanimous manager of the Year' Mourinho obviously didn't, because he thought Chelsea were the better side and deserved to win the game. I didn't manage to see the extra-time and penalties, but in the 90 minutes Liverpool were definitely the better team, with more possession and chances on goal. I hope Chelski fans are beginning to see that £500million can buy you two league titles (and a League Cup) but it doesn't make the club as great as Liverpool, who might soon have 6 European Cup triumphs.

Tonight's game should be a good one like last week's. Very difficult to call, but I'm hoping Man U make it through - hattrick from Rooney. :D
 
I saw the second half and the extra time and penalties. Ironically, owing much to do with England's lack of success in penalty shoot-outs, the only Chelsea (or Chavski, as I heard it said once) player that actually looked composed enough to score was Lampard. As each Chelsea player stepped up, they looked nervous as hell. Contrast that to each Liverpool player who did not seem flustered by it at all. Judge for yourself. :D

And I am tipping Man U to go through - but not win, they will draw.

Genghis Khan said:
Here is something nobody is thinking right now (and it too far off to care for).  Last week Poland-Ukraine won the bid to host Euro 2012.  Mark it on your calendars folks!
Click to expand...
That did register, but with all the excitement of end-of-season relegation woes/joys (emphasis is on the woe - or joy for NA) and the Champions League semi's and not to mention the imminent FA Cup final - at the new Wembley, it sort of got a little pushed to the side. But, the sad thing is is that if neither team qualify for the world cup in 2010 (possible), the last competitive game they will play is their last 2010 world cup qualification match. This exact scenario is currently faced by Austria - who have not played competitive football since autumn 2005 and won't until summer 2008 - and was faced by England between 1993 and 1996. Yes, the host(s) should not have to qualify, but that is a long time to go playing only friendlies.
 
Seedorf !  :ok:

Wake up Van Basten !

Liverpool might have a hard time in the final. Milan plays very solid and intelligent. I am slightly in favor of Liverpool because of Kuyt whom I wish all the best !
 
I'd be quite happy if the final had the same sort of excitement as when Liverpool and Milan last met in the final. I'm very impressed with Benitez, who knows how to change his team to beat teams with very different playing styles: Barcelona, Chelsea. Maybe Milan will be just too good.
 
Of all the results, a 3-0 thumping I did not expect. Will Milan be too good for Liverpool? Perhaps, but the Scousers have a good pedigree in this competition - but so have Milan.

I'm going for Liverpool, but not with that amazing comeback they did two years ago, just a plain win. However, it takes an English club to create drama in the final - Man U in 1999 and Liverpool in 2005 - so maybe we can expect some more of this.
UEFA have confirmed that, for the first time, they will stage a 3rd/4th place play off for the Champions League. It is a trial to see how it goes and the winner will actually win a proper trophy - sounds interesting. It is to be staged at the New Wembley on the 19th May 2007 (the final been on the 23rd). Details here.


:D
 
You have to admit, it worked out so brilliantly. When everyone was talking of Chelsea playing Man U 3 times for 3 trophies, it seems the most likely event is that they will only play the once for one - the FA Cup. I think Man U will beat Man City and Chelsea will draw with Arsenal this weekend making the Chelsea Man U game a little meaningless. But, will Chelsea offer Man U the same reception that Man U gave Chelsea when Chavski won the league in 2005? I'm not so sure of that - that did seem to me a little bit of "thank God it was not Arsenal" from Man U's point of view.

Anyway, on to serious matters:
Albie said:
But I'm going for both Leeds and Hull to loose, Southend to win and Leeds fans go on one almighty rampage in Derby and near on destroy the city and Hull field an illegible player. Upon the FA's investigation, they decide to dock both teams 5 points which puts them both into the relegation zone and Southend 4th from bottom.
Click to expand...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/l/leeds_united/6625751.stm

All we need now, is for Hull to field that illegible player. :D
 
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