Official Football Thread

Hey do you know what's going on in Belgium?
The league ended undecided, and two extra matches (Thursday and Sunday) will decide who become the champions. According to the rules, the goalsaldo is not relevant, but the amount of victories counts when the total points are equal. Well, the amount of victories is equal as well!!

1. Anderlecht      34 24  5  5  77  75-30
2. Standard Luik  34 24  5  5  77  66-26
3. Brugge vEL      34 18  5 11  59  59-50
4. AA Gent vEL    34 17  8  9  59  67-42




Other news:
Ronald Koeman is the new coach of AZ (who play Champions League).
Louis van Gaal will be the new coach of Bayern München.
 
Forostar said:
According to the rules, the goalsaldo is not relevant, but the amount of victories counts when the total points are equal. Well, the amount of victories is equal as well!!
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And at that point, they should then look at goals for or goal difference to separate the teams. I don't think it's right that the whole season should be decided on two extra games - it is so easily done by using so many factors that relate only to the 34 games played.
 
I see Garth Crooks has publicly slammed the FA and the organisers of the England World Cup Bid launch. His criticism was levelled at them due to the lack of black and ethnic representatives at the launch. He was also angered that a prominent BNP politican was invited to the launch.

For those of you who dont know Crooks played top flight football in England in the 80's and was the first black man to score a goal in an FA Cup Final and was the first black Chairman of the Professional Footballers Association.

I have to echo Crooks' comments. What on earth was the FA thinking? At a time when we are being urged to "kick racism out of a football", what a wonderful opportunity to show the world that England is a diverse and multi cultutal society. Instead they opt for a virtually total white representation and also have a BNP politican there.

A stupid mistake at best and at worst, damned disgusting. Let's hope they quickly learn their lesson and ensure that the message they are going to promote is one of equality
 
What about other races? What about religions?
Any jews? Any muslims?

I wonder if this really was a racial thing and not a pure coincidence. You can't take into account with all groups.
 
Agreed.

I don't think the lack of ethnic representatives was in any way racist, merely an oversight by the FA who should have planned thimgs better.

The more annoying aspect was having the BNP guy present. That particular party's views are fairly extreme (repatronisation of ethnic groups) and do not represent the overall opinion of the majority off the people who live in England. If they got their way then England wouldnt have the services of the likes of Walcott, Wright-Phillips, Heskey, Ferdinand etc eveb though they were born in this country and are as English as anyone else in the team. It's only because their family history, even from generations ago, came from Africa that the BNP do not class them as English.

Anyway back to the football.

My hopes and predictions for Wednesday's upcoming Champions League Final.

Hopes: A free flowing attacking game from end to end with good sportmanship. United to win 3-2.

Predictions. A disappointing game with two teams cancelling each other out and lots of play acting/diving etc. Barcelona to win 1-0.

Let's pray my hope rather than my prediction is accurate.
 
My prediction is more like your prediction than your hope, but I am a bit more optimistic. United may very well win, but I don't think we'll see anything like 3-2. 0-0 and extra time is more likely. I think United will be able to defend properly - we've already seen that the artistry of Barcelona doesn't work well against well organized defences. I expect Barca to have a lot of possession, and not much to show for it.

One thing to notice is that Barcelona will be missing several of their first-choice defenders, and United might be missing one (Ferdinand). I think that's not going to give a more open match, because if both teams lack their best defenders, they will also be more careful and take fewer risks.

Anyway, really looking forward to the game.
 
Liverpool are continually linked with Tevez. Now I think he is a great player, but can't see how he will fit in to the Liverpool side.I don't think he's an out and out striker, more of a deeper lying player, which makes me think that he and Gerrard will get in each others way.

I would much prefer Benitez to go for David Silva so he can renew his international partnership with Torres.
I also don't understand why we are looking to offload Alonso.He's just had his best season for us, and I would prefer him to be Captain ahead of Gerrard.I suppose it makes business sense if Real Madrid's offer of £23m is true.

I'd like to see Riera, Lucas, Dosseina go, and Jay Spearing a Liverpool youngster given more of a chance in Midfield, along with a frustrating Babbel, who I'm sure would benefit from a regular run in the side

I am pleased however that Liverpool appear to be renewing interest in Glen Johnson of Portsmouth.

There seems to be a worrying lack of home grown talent coming through the ranks-where are the Fowlers, Carraghers, Gerrards etc


Barca 1-Man U 0(hopefully)
 
Wolfsburg did it! Champions of Germany for the first time in their 64 year existence!
Halfway the season they were at the 9th place, 9 points behind Herbstmeisters Hoffenheim and Bayern München.

The topscoring duo Grafite and Dzeko (54 goals!) even broke the Gerd "Bomber" Müller & Uli Hoeness record, who made 53 goals (two times)!

Hats off!  :)


1. Wolfsburg CL 34 21  6  7  69  80-41
2. Bayern CL       34 20  7  7  67  71-42
3. Stuttg. vCL     34 19  7  8  64  63-43
4. Hertha vEL      34 19  6  9  63  48-41
5. Hamb.SV vEL   34 19  4 11  61  49-47
6. Bor.Dortmund   34 15 14  5  59  60-37
7. Hoffenheim      34 15 10  9  55  63-49
 
Yeah, hats off to Wolfsburg. An impressive spring by them!

Also, hats off to Paolo Maldini who yesterday led the AC Milan players out on the San Siro grass for the last time as a player. He retires after this season. He was part of the Milan team that did success in the early 90's, and he was part of the team that won the Champions League in 2007 ... not many players have achieved that, renewed success in different eras like that. He's also been great for Italy, but it's as the captain of AC Milan he will be remembered.

A true legend.
 
Well done Wolfsburg.

And well done also to Rangers to stop the Celtic dominance of the SPL. About bloody time, we can't have Celtic winnning the title 4 times in a row - can we? :D

But more important than that, St Mirren avoided relegation from the SPL despite loosing on the last day - all thanks to Terry Butchers' Inverness CT's loss that sent them down instead!
 
Ferguson realizes how important the Champions League is.
Ferguson wants United among greats

Well he can be jealous for a long time because they lost it.


European Cup / Champions League records:

Team                      won    runner-up

Real Madrid                  9               3
Milan                          7               4
Liverpool                     5               2
Bayern Munich             4               3
Ajax                           4               2
Barcelona                    3               3 
Manchester United        3               1
 
Well deserved Barca victory I thought, but how much did that Eto'o goal change the match? Before that Barcelona looked they couldn't cope with Man u. But moreso Man U couldn't cope with Barcelona in the 2nd half, in the first ten minutes of that 2nd half Barca could've scored 2 or 3.
Also, it obviously didn't make any difference but Scholes should've been sent for a horrible leg-breaker challenge.
 
I didn't saw the match as I was in the car  :( driving my way to Cairo
but I'm very happy for Barca's victory -mainly for Thierry Henry's favour -and if I'm not wrong this is his first major achievement
 
It wasn't the exciting game I think most people hoped for, but it was a good match nonetheless. ManU didn't play badly per se, they just weren't doing anything on offense. So hats off to Barca for playing the game they play best, with a tight defense this time (what a difference Puyol makes). Iniesta and Xavi had a great game, and honestly they should have been granted goals just to honor their efforts. That tackle by Scholes was disgraceful, it should have been a red card (not that it would have made a difference in the end). And thankfully Ronaldo got what he deserved, a nice yellow card for all his unnecessary tackles on Puyol (Puyol shadowed him mercilessly, great job!). The Champions League season ends like I wanted it to...with a Barca victory. :)
 
Barcelona were the better team for 80 minutes. United started well with a good tempo, playing high up the field, depriving the Catalans of space and time. We should have scored a couple of goals. But from the moment Barca scored with their first effort on goal it became one way traffic.

I hate to admit it because the player has been one of United's greatest but Ryan Giggs is now past his sell by date. His passing was poor and he offered very little to the game. Ji Sung Park in my opinion is not a Man Utd player and the cynic in me believes he is only there to help bolster United's far East support. Anderson has been with the club for 2 seasons now and has not managed a goal. He let Iniesta drift past him for the lay on to Eto'o for the first goal. Rooney is not a left winger and should be deployed where he is at his best. John O'Shea is a good utility player but he isnt world class and not fit to grace a Champions League Final.

We were also in my opnion missing the talents of Owen Hargreaves. His box to box running and excellent tackling would have disrupted Barcelona's rhythm. I can't wait for him to get back to full fitness.

Anyway still a good season with a bagful of trophies and equalling Liverpool's 18 championships. With one or two additions and a few departures (Park, Anderson, OShea, maybe even Berbatov) and with HArgreaves back marshalling the midfield I am confident we can get back our crown next season.
 
Back in the Village said:
Ji Sung Park in my opinion is not a Man Utd player and the cynic in me believes he is only there to help bolster United's far East support.
Click to expand...

Not really, he helped Man U to get as far as the final.
 
Forostar said:
Not really, he helped Man U to get as far as the final.
Click to expand...

He has scored a few important goals (against Arsenal in the semi I believe was one). The guy that I think really needs to be replaced (apart from Ronaldo) is Berbatov. And yes Ronaldo is a good player but I think everyone knows he would do better in a Spanish or Italian team, and that he himself wants to go to Real Madrid or some such.
 
Giggs was definitely a weak link in the United team, along with Anderson in the centre - would Hargreaves or Fletcher been any better? Maybe. Ji Sun Park seems to be a specialist (at lest in Ferguson's eyes) in Champions League games, but was totally ineffectual yesterday, as was Man U's whole tactical set-up in the front third.
 
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