Official Football Thread

But they were 2-1 down away from home. They are grinding out the results when needed.

And their last 8 games in the Premiership reads: DWWWWWWL. Sounds like good form to me. ;)
 
Forostar said:
@EW: I am not sure if Man U will reach the final. ;)
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Neither am I. But in case they do, my blood pressure will sky rocket if they are to meet Liverpool. Sure, for English football fans who support other teams than these two such a final must be very much a dream. But for fans of the two clubs I guess it's more of a nightmare. As for United's and Barca's form, I would say United have impressed more in the league lately. Both United and Barca got better results in the first QF leg than they could hope for, especially Barca who were dominated by Schalke, and are very likely to meet, but it is several weeks into the future. Much can change in those weeks. Players can get injured or recover from injuries, lose form or get into their best form.

Barcelona are a special team. They have had some lousy performances lately, but on occasions they can play football that no other team are capable of.



And @Zare's comment on mr. Vennegoor of Hesselink. I think he's got the coolest name of any European footballer. I mean, Vennegoor of Hesselink sounds like some count or duke, and then his first name is simply : Jan. I mean, his last name can hardly fit across the back of his shirt and then he has a first name like that. How cool isn't that?  :bigsmile:

Finally, I'd like to wish both QPR and Southend good luck for the last few deciding matches in the Chamionship/League 1.  :) And PSV in the UEFA Cup quarter-final match tomorrow.
 
Forostar said:
The name has confused some Dutch people as well, because of the double last/family-name.
One of the meanings of the word "of" is "or", so that's even more confusion but also very funny.

I know someone who thought that the commentator wasn’t sure if the scorer was Vennegoor or Hesselink!
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I read/heard a while ago that his name came about sometime (probably long) ago, that when nobles married in Holland the wed couple took the surname of the family with the higher social standing, but when a Vennegoor married an Hesselink they couldn't decide who was of higher social standing so they took both names.

A nightmare for replica shirt printers anyway. :D
 
Eddies Wingman said:
Finally, I'd like to wish both QPR and Southend good luck for the last few deciding matches in the Chamionship/League 1.  :) And PSV in the UEFA Cup quarter-final match tomorrow.
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I think Southend's form is good at the right time and I am hoping this will stand them in good stead for the play offs (as they're all but guaranteed at least a play off place - assuming they don't succumb to the most mightiest of all collapses this side of an England batting middle order). So I'm fairly hopeful.

So the semi's are known and I think most of us got that one right. I'm sticking with a Man U Liverpool final, but I have this nagging doubt that Chelsea will sneak it - third time lucky, and all that.

Interesting stat has come out of the game at Old Trafford - Man U now hold the record of the most consecutive wins at home in the Champions League - 11 - thus overtaking Juve's record of 10. That is some record to achieve.
 
I forgot when (or if!) there (ever) was a previous all-English final in a European football cup(?)

edit: Just checked it. That probably was in the first season of the UEFA Cup:

Tottenham Hotspur vs Wolverhampton Wanderers (winner was Spurs).
 
Albie said:
So the semi's are known and I think most of us got that one right. I'm sticking with a Man U Liverpool final, but I have this nagging doubt that Chelsea will sneak it - third time lucky, and all that.

Interesting stat has come out of the game at Old Trafford - Man U now hold the record of the most consecutive wins at home in the Champions League - 11 - thus overtaking Juve's record of 10. That is some record to achieve.
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So you're sticking with United vs LFC. Does that mean that you think they will get to the final or that you want them to? Or both?

Very satisfied with United's performance today. Big relief, of course, when De Rossi sent the penalty kick into the Stretford End, but except for the penalty and the first 15 minutes of the second half, they were not much of a threat. Considering United rested Scholes, Rooney and Ronaldo and had Vidic out with an injury I think they performed very well.

And of course very nice to see Gary Neville return. Quite good atmosphere in the pub when he started preparing to get on.

The semis are of course going to be very even and (hopefully) exciting.
 
Albie said:
So the semi's are known and I think most of us got that one right. I'm sticking with a Man U Liverpool final, but I have this nagging doubt that Chelsea will sneak it - third time lucky, and all that.
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I doubt Chelsea will win it this year - appointing Average Grant was a huge mistake. All he's done is keep Mourinho's formation system, but made mistakes with team selection and is obviously not as good a motivator as his predecessor. If you look at Grant's results this season, they've done very poorly in big games - eg. League Cup final vs Spurs, FA Cup against Barnsley (!), 0-0 at home to Liverpool in the league, lost at Arsenal and Man U. And let's not forget that they only beat QPR (at home) thanks to an extremely unlucky goalkeeper own-goal.
Avram Grant and Chelsea are no-hopers. End of story.

boss-nass.jpg
 
Eddies Wingman said:
So you're sticking with United vs LFC. Does that mean that you think they will get to the final or that you want them to? Or both?
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A bit of both. I'd like to see an all Premiership final and if that is at the expense of Chelsea, then so be it. But if you look at the history of the two clubs in this competition, Liverpool have an amazing tradition and Man U have been the most successful Premiership side in getting to the last 8. Someone made a comment the other day about the fact that the Premiership is the only league to have had at least one representative in the last 8 since the formation of the Champions League - and that is mainly down to Man U as I think they have made the last 8 on every occasion bar the other year.

national acrobat said:
I doubt Chelsea will win it this year...
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I didn't mean to say they would win the trophy, I meant they would sneak a win off Liverpool in the semi's - nothing more.

As for that picture of Avram.... :D

And well done to Rangers tonight, beating Lisbon 2-0 away to reach the semi's of the UEFA cup.
 
I watched the highlights from Getafe vs Bayern München this morning. What a game! Too bad I could'nt see it yesterday (I watched Sporting vs Rangers). Six goals of which four came in extra time, a sending-off early in the match, a couple of bloopers and a couple of real screamers. This match should be released on DVD  :D

Too bad PSV couldn't beat Fiorentina. It seems like the Firenze team might earn Italy at least some European glory this year. I regard them as favourites for the trophy now. Fair play to Rangers for their determination and hard work, but I doubt it can get them any further now. All the teams that are left have plenty of determination and then I think it will show that they also have a little more class than Rangers. My bet is a Bayern München vs Fiorentina final, with the Italians winning it.

Albie, you mention the tradition the semi-finalists have in the CL. That made me think of one thing: Which year has seen the most "glorious" semi-finals in terms of how many times the semi-finalists had won the title up to then? This year, the number is nine (Liverpool with five, United and Barca with two each). Of course, any year including Real Madrid would equal this as they have nine titles. If I'm not mistaken, it's 9 for Real, 6 for AC Milan, 5 for Liverpool, 4 for Bayern München and then there are some teams with 3 titles and quite a lot with 2.
 
Eddies Wingman said:
I watched the highlights from Getafe vs Bayern München this morning. What a game! Too bad I could'nt see it yesterday (I watched Sporting vs Rangers). Six goals of which four came in extra time, a sending-off early in the match, a couple of bloopers and a couple of real screamers. This match should be released on DVD   :D
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Wish I had not missed it! Here they call it the "double Houdini-act"!

Eddies Wingman said:
Too bad PSV couldn't beat Fiorentina. It seems like the Firenze team might earn Italy at least some European glory this year. I regard them as favourites for the trophy now.
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Fiorentina seemed way better than in the first match and PSV less than in the first match. Seems that those Italians really go for it when something is at stake.
 
And @Zare's comment on mr. Vennegoor of Hesselink. I think he's got the coolest name of any European footballer. I mean, Vennegoor of Hesselink sounds like some count or duke, and then his first name is simply : Jan. I mean, his last name can hardly fit across the back of his shirt and then he has a first name like that. How cool isn't that?  
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Yeah, like i said, sounds like some medieval lord, very "mighty" name.  :D

Now on topic...yesterday's game (Getafe-Bayern) had outstanding 75 minutes (second half + extra times). I think that some teams had less luck in their entire history than Bayern yesterday. They were outsmarted by a team that had 10 players from fifth minute of the match.

Getafe led 1-0, and in couple of last minutes, Bayern managed to even things out, with a really lucky goal. Ball bounced a bit in Getafe's red zone, then Lahm kicked it into the net through a crowd. Let's just say that couple of minutes before Getafe had two 110% chances. How Bayern survived that?

1. Getafe attacker manages to dribble past the last defender, goes one on one with Kahn, dribbles Kahn, has litterally an empty net in front of him, raises the right leg to shoot, his left (standing) leg slips because of slippery pitch and he slips too. No goal.

2. Getafe attacker manages to evade couple of defenders, goes one on one with Kahn in 10 meter area, but there was some judo going on before him vs. defenders, so he, and the defenders turn around their heads to look at the referee, referee didn't whisle anything, he was free to shoot, but Kahn got the ball because of that extra second.

Now how lucky is that?

1-1 into the extra time, Bayern holds the possession, but Getafe looks more lethal overall. Two quick, really nice goals for Getafe, and it's 3-1 in the 93rd minute. Looks like Bayern went down the drain.

115th minute, Getafe's goalkeeper makes a big mistake, ball literally fell from his hands, 3-2.

120th minute, Bayern manages to score an equalizer, Toni's head effort. This one wasn't lucky goal, but it should've come as an "moral saviour" goal. All in all, Bayern had all the luck in the world yesterday, to write down a rather bitter victory.

Now, onto Champion's League. Well, four big teams in the semifinals, tough prediction. But i think that Chelsea has less chance than others. They don't have enough team spirit to win such a competition, IMHO.
 
National Acrobat: It seems like QPR are safe by all means now, but you were perhaps hoping for more than that?

Albie: I can't see Southend giving away their spot in the playoff now. But do you think they can beat Leeds who seemingly are on their way back into form?


And my comment on Manchester United vs Arsenal: An exciting game, packed with pace but at times lacking in precision. United gave Arsenal some good opportunities by poor passing on their own half. Arsenal played well and created more chances, but United's were (especially in the first half) bigger. Then drama with Adebayor's handball goal followed by a penalty given for another handball. But if Ferdinand's nearly disastrous backpass had gone in, I think the match would've been sealed (let us not get into rants about sealing in this thread). Instead we got a demonstration of Owen Hargreaves's good abilities from free kicks. Great goal. And now the title race is really a two-horse one. Chelsea can get close but Arsenal are out. Tonight I say: C'mon Wigan!
 
Eddies Wingman said:
Tonight I say: C'mon Wigan!
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I'm hoping old boy Steve Bruce can do us a massive favour but you would be a very brave man to bet against a home win for Chelsea. Where I think Chelsea may come unstuck is against Everton on Thursday. Playing two games in quick succession shouldnt be a problem for a squad the size of Chelski but Avram grant has already bemoaned the fixture re-arrangement and Everton will playing to cement their UEFA Cup spot.

The result yesterday could have gone anyway. Arsenal were the better team for the first 50 minutes and only tired finishing from Adebayor meant United were still in the game. United rallied after the goal and you could see how they rushed to restart the game after the equalizer how much they wanted to win. I'm glad Hargreaves got the winner. I think he has been unlucky with injuries and squad rotation not to have started more games. I'm hoping he can stay fit now for the rest of the season as I see him as an integral part of the push for a League and Europe double.
 
Eddies Wingman said:
And my comment on Manchester United vs Arsenal: An exciting game, packed with pace but at times lacking in precision.
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I've seen that match. Van der Sar was very strong. I am amazed how good he still is. He's very important for Man U, and their high ranking, saving many big chances which other goalies don't do as often for their clubs.
 
Eddies Wingman said:
National Acrobat: It seems like QPR are safe by all means now, but you were perhaps hoping for more than that?
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Not really. The best I could hope for was that QPR would still exist, let alone not get relegated. And considering we were bottom of the league for quite a while, I'm delighted with our current position. Next season, I'll be hoping for more. ;)
 
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