Official Football Thread

@Eddies Wingman: Your view on concurrent clubs remind me of an old friend of mine who always hoped Ajax would loose every match (Dutch league, European competition, doesn't matter). I'm for Feyenoord, but if another Dutch team does well in Europe, I still appreciate that. :) (Though, I'm not a big Ajax supporter as well, hehe).

Eddies Wingman said:
I would like to see PSV through rather than Fenerbahce

Hmm right now Fenerbahce-Moscow 1-1!
PSV is still at 0-0, but just got a red card!  :S


I just read about the 5 friendly matches that Holland will play, on the road to Euro2008:
               
06 Februari: Croatia-Netherlands    (Nice eh, Genghis Khan!   :ok: )
26 March: Austria-Netherlands         
24 May: Netherlands-Ukraine
29 May: Netherlands-Denmark
01 June: Netherlands-Wales
 
Forostar said:
@Eddies Wingman: Your view on concurrent clubs remind me of an old friend of mine who always hoped Ajax would loose every match (Dutch league, European competition, doesn't matter). I'm for Feyenoord, but if another Dutch team does well in Europe, I still appreciate that. :) (Though, I'm not a big Ajax supporter as well, hehe).

Now, I don't say that I hope they lose. I just don't like that some RBK fans seem to think that it's my duty as a Norwegian to support them. If they win, cool. If they lose, well - shit happens. I'm quite ambivalent, in fact. Actually, I get more excited when other Norwegian teams do well in Europe - perhaps because the others like Brann, Viking or Vålerenga don't have achieved so much in Europe.

You see, during the years when Rosenborg were regulars in the Champions League (1995-2003), Norwegian media liked to regard Rosenborg as "the Rosenborg of the whole nation", the team that we all should love and wish the best for. One can become a bit fed up with that. I don't have anything against RBK. But remember, out of the last 16 league championships they have won 14.

As said earlier - I and many others would like to see a clash between Brann and Rosenborg in the UEFA cup if both get that far.


Then some comments on tonight's matches. Surprising to see Lyon winning so clearly at Ibrox - that they won wasn't that shocking, but 3-0? And there will be UEFA Cup for PSV. Fenerbahce could perhaps be said to be the surprise team in the round of 16?

I have of course enjoyed watching a very young Manchester United team get a 1-1 draw in Rome. Not bad, considering the defense consisted of Simpson, Pique, Evans and O'Shea (O'Shea was replaced by Brown in the 2nd half) and the wing positions were occupied by Chris Eagles and Nani. I feared, as both teams were through before the match, that it would become a boring stalemate. It did not, it was a very entertaining match indeed. Plenty of chances for both teams (must admit the Italians had the biggest ones) and definitely not walking tempo. But of course, United need to do much better at Anfield on Sunday ... but that will be another team.
 
PSV out of the Champions League. Ah well, I'm not that surprised or even disappointed. PSV is not so strong compared with previous years. BTW, AZ is also still in UEFA cup !
 
When seeing the highlights from Ibrox, I realise how it could happen. After missing that enormous opportunity after 78 minutes (how on earth could he put that one over the bar? Incredible), I think Rangers lost their spirit. And that is perfectly understandable.
 
Forostar said:
I just read about the 5 friendly matches that Holland will play, on the road to Euro2008:
             
06 Februari: Croatia-Netherlands    (Nice eh, Genghis Khan!  :ok: )
26 March: Austria-Netherlands         
24 May: Netherlands-Ukraine
29 May: Netherlands-Denmark
01 June: Netherlands-Wales

I'm looking forward to that game, Forostar.  ;)  Croatia has not lost on home turf, yet.  I say "yet" because sooner of later it must happen.  I just hope it does not happen for a long time.  :)
 
Current FIFA ranking (I decided to post the top-50):

1  Argentina 1523
2  Brazil 1502
3  Italy 1498
4  Spain 1349
5  Germany 1298
6  Czech Republic 1290
7  France 1243
8  Portugal 1241
9  Netherlands 1170
10  Croatia 1129
----------------------
11  Greece 1114
12  England 1113
13  Romania 1088
14  Scotland 990
15  Mexico 982
16  Turkey 924
17  Colombia 907
18  Bulgaria 881
19  USA 876
20  Nigeria 875
-----------------
21  Paraguay 873
22  Poland 862
23  Russia 861
24  Sweden 853
24  Cameroon 853
26  Israel 852
27  Serbia 844
28  Uruguay 831
29  Norway 827
30  Ukraine 824 
-----------------
31  Denmark 797
32  Northern Ireland 780 
33  Guinea 758
34  Japan 748 
35  Republic of Ireland 731 
36  Finland 697
37  Côte d'Ivoire 688 
38  Senegal 687
39  Egypt 686 
39  Morocco 686 
--------------------
41  Iran 677 
42  Korea Republic 663 
43  Ghana 659
44  Switzerland 657 
45  Chile 655
46  Mali 652 
47  Tunisia 639 
48  Australia 607 
49  Belgium 600 
50  Hungary 588
 
@ Forostar: Croatia and the Netherlands are very close.  That should be interesting in February.  Both countries dropped since the summer.  I remember that Croatia was ranked 7th then.

By the way, where did you get the information on the friendlies before Euro '08 commences? 
 
Genghis Khan said:
@ Forostar: Croatia and the Netherlands are very close.  That should be interesting in February.  Both countries dropped since the summer.  I remember that Croatia was ranked 7th then.

I noticed that too, nice indeed. :)

Genghis Khan said:
By the way, where did you get the information on the friendlies before Euro '08 commences? 

Dutch teletext, which must have it from the KNVB (Royal Netherlands Football Association).
I found it here (in Dutch) --> http://www.knvb.nl/oranje/programma
 
national acrobat said:
These rankings are almost pure fantasy.

Agree, Acrobat. Consider Norway's position on the ranking. In the beginning of the year we were ranked 50th. Now in December we are 29th. And, having watched all of Norway's games except for the friendly against Argentina (I was in Helsinki at the time) I can assure everyone that this team has not improved much throughout the year.

And to illustrate even further how useless the ranking is: Just before the 1994 World Cup, Norway were 2nd ... OK, we finished ahead of Holland and England in the qualification group, but the world's second best? Never.

And honestly I don't think that 49 teams were better than us in January either. Some place between 25th and 35th seems reasonable.
 
The UEFA-cup draw for the round of 32 was held today!

Aberdeen  -  Bayern Munich   
AEK Athens  -   Getafe   
Bolton Wanderers  -  Atlético Madrid   
Zenit St. Petersburg  -  Villarreal   
Galatasaray  -  Bayer Leverkusen   
Anderlecht  -  Bordeaux   
Brann  -  Everton*   
Zürich  -  Hamburg   
Rangers  -  Panathinaikos   
PSV Eindhoven  -  Helsingborg   
Slavia Prague  -  Tottenham Hotspur   
Rosenborg  -  Fiorentina   
Sporting Lisbon  -  Basel   
Werder Bremen  -  Sporting Braga   
Benfica  -  Nuremberg   
Marseille  -  Spartak Moscow
*Everton has good strikers! - they kicked out AZ yesterday, which means:
Only one Dutch club (PSV) left in European competition, this season. :/


Also for the Champions League the draw for the first knockout round was held today.

Celtic  -  Barcelona 
Lyon  -  Manchester United 
Schalke 04  -  Porto 
Liverpool  -  Internazionale 
Roma  -  Real Madrid
Arsenal  -  Milan
Olympiacos  -  Chelsea
Fenerbahçe  -  Sevilla
 
Forostar said:
Also for the Champions League the draw for the first knockout round was held today.

Celtic  -  Barcelona
Lyon  -  Manchester United 
Schalke 04  -  Porto 
Liverpool  -  Internazionale 
Roma  -  Real Madrid
Arsenal  -  Milan
Olympiacos  -  Chelsea
Fenerbahçe  -  Sevilla

In bold are the teams I reckon will go through.

If Celtic were at home for the return fixture, I might even fancy them here, with their mighty home form. I just fear that even if they sneak a one goal win at home, Barcelona will up their game for their home match. But as Barcelona are my favourite non-Shepherd's Bush team, I won't be too sorry.  ::)

Typical Chelscum get the easiest match of the draw ;)
 
What is fun about the UEFA Cup draw, is that actually, if Brann and Rosenborg can beat Everton and Fiorentina, respectively, they will play each other - which would be great fun for all Norwegian football fans. A face-off between this year's league winners and the most winning team in the Norwegian league (with well above half of the last 25 championships), two great rivals in Norway.

Now, Everton and Fiorentina are tough opponents, and considering the games will be played in February, I can't see how either of the Norwegian teams will go through, honestly. Everton and Fiorentina are big favourites.

Speaking as a Red Devil, Lyon are definitely not the worst draw for United. United have a good chance of going through to the quarter finals, but I take nothing for granted.
 
national acrobat said:
:D

^That's been me for the last two days^
All we need now is for some rich tycoon from Brunei to want to invest in English football and plump a ton of money at the door of Roots Hall. :D


@Eddies Wingman: You are right - Everton and Fiorentina are tough opponents, I think both should progress. And I personally think that all of the rest of the UEFA cup participants should be wary of Everton. I can see them doing a Middlesbrough - but going one further.
 
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