Official Football Thread

Seems Mr Capello can do no wrong at the moment - 5 wins on the trot and only one of those was at Wembley and only one a friendly (albeit against the Germans). What was good about the game yesterday was the fact that England could only field one or two players that would make the starting line-up had the game not been a friendly - and it gives Capello a big headache. But saying that, I thought the Germans were extremely poor last night - yes, England did take the game to them and did not give them any time on the ball, etc. but a better German side would have dictated the game, not the other way around.

And I too blame Terry for the German goal (as did he himself), he should have cleared the ball before it got to the area.
 
Yesterday saw no less than 8 teams securing their spot in the 1/8 finals of the Champions League:

Villarreal, Manchester United, Juventus, Real Madrid, Arsenal, FC Porto, Lyon and Bayern München are all through. And before yesterday's matches, all of them were still in a position where they could go out if everything went wrong. The least exciting group in that respect was group E where United and Villarreal both would secure their spot in the next round if they got a draw. Not very surprising that the match ended goalless ...

Tonight we could be in for some more thrilling stuff. Should Chelsea not win against Bordeaux on French soil, they might be in trouble. For maximum excitement in group A I'd like to see a draw between Cluj and AS Roma, and a Bordeaux win against Chelsea.

Group B includes the sensational team from Cyprus who surprised everyone just by qualifying for the group stage. Tonight Anorthosis are playing Werder Bremen at home, and if they win they are in a very good position. And considering Werder's performances so far in the Champions League, I'm not sure the Germans can prevent that ...

In group C, Barcelona are already through whereas Sporting need at least a draw against them to secure their spot. Since Sporting are at home and Barca will be in 1st even with a draw, I see that one coming ...

Finally we have group D where PSV and Marseille both will be desperate to win their matches. Both know that if they fail to win tonight, they are out. But since they're going to Vicente Calderón and Anfield, respectively, I think there will be satisfied faces in Madrid and Liverpool tomorrow. My bet is on home wins in both matches.

I think I'm going to be stuck with Liverpool vs Marseille, since that's the only match which will be broadcasted on a station I have access to  :( I'd prefer Sporting vs Barcelona.
 
Conor said:
Now it's my turn.  I support Manchester United although I cannot see a way forward for the club under the current management and squad.  We can all see Chelsea romping away in every front because they have spent serious amounts of money, United have tried this in the past but have wasted a lot of money on crap players.  Fergie must go and Martin O'Neill must be brought in if United have any hope of a recovery to their mantle of best team in England, or Europe.
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Three years later, we can perhaps conclude that Conor was not completely spot on with this one ...  :D And I guess he's happy to have been proven wrong, very wrong.

And American Football isn't football. They run with the ball in their hands, for fuck's sake  :p
 
You should call it what it's been called for generations - American Football. It just should have been called something different in the first place, like American Rugby as it has more in common with that sport than Association Football - and Rugby is where the idea for the game came from.


And yes, I know the full name of the sport is Rugby football, hence the reason why American Football is named as such.
 
So let's see, matchday 6 of the champions league is coming up soon...I say Barcelona to win their game no problem, Chelsea to win theirs no problem, Liverpool and Man U to win theirs as well, Bayern, Juventus and Real Madrid to win theirs also. No surprises I think. It's already said and done who goes to the knockout round anyway...
 
The trouble I have with the UEFA cup is that it has become so de-valued with the expansion of the Champions league. Not, as you may have already gathered, I have a problem with the Champion league in its current format. The UEFA cup is full of teams that fail in the Champions league and the also-runs in their respective domestic leagues.
 
The weakest results since 1978 have had consequences: Yesterday, Åge Hareide resigned from his position as head coach for the Norwegian national team. He said he no longer had the motivation to go on. He had discussed with the president and vice president of the Norwegian FA during the weekend and they agreed that his decision was the best one.

Now, who will succeed him? Media hold Trond Sollied, the current manager at Heerenveen, as their favourite. Another candidate who has been mentioned is Ståle Solbakken, currently managing FC København (FC Copenhagen for those who prefer the English spelling). Former Norway coach Egil "Drillo" Olsen is a proponent of Solbakken who is quite close to himself in terms of football "philosophy" - they share the same ideas about how football should be played. (Long passes when the opposition are in balance, "Arsenal-style" counterattacks whenever possible). Sollied, on the other hand, supports a more "continental" style of play, with more possession and short passes.

Personally I hope they can convince Sollied to take over. Not so much because of what he stands for regarding style of play, as because he seems to be the more competent manager ...

By the way, Nemanja Vidic kicks ass.
 
Alright, so the results of the first day of matchday 6 are in.

Chelsea 2-1 CFR Cluj
Roma 2-0 Bordeaux
Panathinaikos 1-0 Anorthosis
Bremen 2-1 Internazionale
Basel 0-1 Sporting
Barcelona 2-3 Shakhtar
PSV 1-3 Liverpool
Marseille 0-0 Atlético

I watched the Chelsea game, and thought Cluj put up a great fight, especially in the first half. Could easily have been 2-2, Chelsea was lucky. I saw a part of the Bremen vs. Inter game and saw a very shaky Inter so I wasn't surprised that they lost. And about Barcelona, well they were playing with their B team or something (or youth team, not sure) and lost but it seems alot of goals were scored so thats alright. I think this means Chelsea are second in their group, Roma is first in the same group, Inter might be second in their group after Panathanaikos, and then Barcelona is still first regardless of their loss. Liverpool, Sporting and Atletico go through to the first knockout round as well.
Looking forward to the games tomorrow even though its all been decided there already, the top teams just haveto fight it out over who is first.
 
My tips for group winners are :

Manchester United - already with a better goal difference than Villarreal and with an easier last game (Aalborg at Old Trafford, Villarreal are going to Glasgow)

Lyon - they play Bayern München at home and will finish 1st with a draw.

Porto - they will finish 1st if they beat Arsenal, and since they play at home I think they have a fair chance. Arsenal have had lots of ups and downs lately ...

Juventus - they have the edge over Real in points, head-to-head results and goal difference, so the only way Real can get past them is if Juve lose at home to BATE Borisov. I don't see that coming ... and Zenit could, on a good day, defend themselves to a draw at Bernabeu. Real Madrid are not in impressive form, two consecutive defeats in the league and a narrow 1-0 win against BATE.
 
Man. United 2-2 AaB
Celtic 2-0 Villarreal
Steaua  0-1 Fiorentina
Lyon 2-3 Bayern
Porto  2-0 Arsenal
Dynamo Kyiv 1-0 Fenerbahçe
Juventus 0-0 BATE
Real Madrid 3-0 Zenit

I watched the highly entertaining Manchester United against Aalborg game. Who would have thought that it would have been 2-2 or that it would have been such a good game? Aalborg had fewer chances to score but they capitalized better than ManU. Since I'm not a ManU fan, it was quite fun to see ManU struggle, primarily with their pride. I was surprised by the Celtic Villareal final score, not that it really mattered, it just put ManU on top of their group. Contrary to expectations, Bayern Munich beat Lyonnais away from home quite convincingly (Frank Ribery got a nice goal there, I love that guy). And apparently Real Madrid still has some life in them, whereas Juventus appears to be struggling a bit with all their injuries.
 
Manchester United's draw enabled them to equal the record 19-match unbeaten run in the Champions League, also held by Ajax (1995-1996) and Bayern Munich (2001).
 
Forostar said:
Manchester United's draw enabled them to equal the record 19-match unbeaten run in the Champions League, also held by Ajax (1995-1996) and Bayern Munich (2001).
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I have a feeling they may stretch that record even further. And I also think that the only team that can stop a second consecutive all Premiership final - is Barcelona.

@Nat: I wasn't that surprised at the Celtic/Villarreal score as one only needs to look at Celtic's home record in Europe. But they're so crap away from home.
 
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