The Football Thread

[teio]

monaco 2 - betis 2

(betis on aggregate 3-2)

 

ricado oliviera scored twice as the spanish team thwarts the 2003/04 finalists...

[damaso]

is the primera liga due to kickoff this weekend?

 

looks like a much tighter race this season. barca i think are still favorites, esp with the addition of van bommel. also, larsson should be fit this season so there won't be a shortage of strikers. motta, gabri and edmilson are all back from long term injuries. and let's not forget ronaldinho who i consider the new zidane, the most creative player in the world.

 

but real madrid has strengthened their squad even more. we all know about the high profile signings of brazilian forwards julio baptista and robinho. real madrid, on paper, has the most potent strikeforce in the world. but what has gone almost unnoticed was the transfer of uruguayans pablo garcia and carlos diogo. these two are defensive hardmen and together with gravesen will give the galacticos the bite they lack.

 

and of course there are others like valencia and villareal. looking forward to what should be a great season!!

[damaso]

just learned that michael owen is headed to newcastle...

[teio]

if owen is going to be a magpie... the england strike duo of world cup '98 will be reunited... owen and shearer...

 

the other third round qualifying stage results...

 

club brugge 1 - valerenga 0

(aggregate 1-1, club brugge on penalties 4-3)

> bosko balaban delivered the goal and the winner in the shoot-out...

 

debrecen 0 - manchester united 3

(manchester united on aggregate 6-0)

> gabriel heinze knocked in two goals and kieran richardson added another as the premiership side heads to the final 32 despite losing gary neville to a torn groin muscle...

 

villareal 2 - everton 1

(villareal on aggregate 4-2)

> juan pablo sorin and diego forlan ended the hopes of the merseysiders to return to the group stages of europe's top club competition...

 

rangers 2 - anorthosis 0

(rangers on aggregate 4-1)

> the scottish champions banked on the goals delivered by thomas buffel and dado prso to dispel the cypriot charge...

 

internazionale 1 - shakhtar 1

(internazionale on aggregate 3-1)

> the milan-side was held by the visitors from ukraine inside an empty san siro but still will move on to the group stage...

 

bremen 3 - basel 0

(bremen on aggregate 4-2)

> three goals in the span of eight second-half minutes gave the germans the upperhand against the swiss contingent...

 

ajax 3 - brondby 1

(ajax on aggregate 5-3)

> after a 2-2 draw in denmark... the danes gave the amsterdam team quite a scare with a goal late in the first-half only to be reversed by timely goals of ryan babel and wesley sneidjer...

 

slavia 0 - anderlecht 2

(anderlecht on aggregate 4-1)

> the belgian runners-up booked a return to the group stage with srhat akin and mbo mpenze providing the firepower...

 

olympique lyonnais fans will not be able to see the young brazilian sensation nilmar for awhile as he was loaned to sc corinthians for the rest of the season... this will free up space in the lyon squad and the most probable replacement will be portuguese midfielder tiago who is expected to bolt out from premiership champions chelsea...

[damaso]

saw an exhibition match between real madrid and an mls select team (real madrid won 5-0) and was surprised to see julio baptista playing more of an attacking midfield position rather than an out-and-out striker. looks like luxemburgo is gonna use 2 attacking mids with zidane and baptista, similar to barca's tactic of using ronaldinho and deco at the same time. makes a lot of sense, since zidane prefers drifting to the left flank. guess it will be ronaldo, robinho and raul fighting for the forward positions.

[teio]

champions league draw results...

 

group a

club brugge kv

juventus fc

sk rapid wein

fc bayern munich

> the clear favorites to emerge from this group are juventus and bayern munich... both rapid and club brugge needed to score a late winner to progress to the finals...

 

group b

arsenal fc

fc thun

ac sparta prague

ajax amsterdam

> perhaps the easiest group in this year's competition... arsenal and ajax are both in the learning curve playing without enigmatic midfielders patrick vieira and rafael van vaart, respectively... sparta has their bad streak of not progressing to the knockout stages... greenhorn thun is currently on a hot streak and can pull out a surprise...

 

group c

werder bremen

barcelona fc

udinese calcio

panathinaikos

> barcelona is still the team to beat in this group and the other slot for the knockout stage will be contested by the others... bremen has the upperhand after progressing from the group stage last year... panathinaikos has some new recruits while udinese will be making their first champion's league appearance...

 

group d

sl benfica

losc lille metropole

villareal

manchester united

> it is not an easy task to pick from this group... villareal has one of the most exciting offense in europe today... benfica is returning to the top club competition and you can't take united out of the picture... lille will have an uphill battle especially with their current poor performance in ligue 1 despite having the luxury to play in the finals venue at the stade de france...

 

 

group e

ac milan

fenerbahce sk

psv eindhoven

fc schalke 04

> semi-finals rematch number one - ac milan vs. psv eindhoven... milan was on a buying spree early in the off season while psv was on a losing spree with mark van bommel and park ji sung opting to play for barcelona and manchester united, repsectively... fenerbache pulled off some impressive performances last year... schalke be making a return to the champion's league...

 

group f

olympique lyonnais

rosenborg bk

real madrid fc

olympiacos

> it is a pity to have lyon and real madrid in the same group... rosenborg and olympiacos will have a tough time progressing to the next round...

 

group g

real betis balompie

liverpool fc

chelsea fc

rsc anderlecht

> semi-finals rematch number two - liverpool vs. chelsea... both teams have their own meaningful acquisitions... but the thing is that they might cross-out each other... which may be a blessing in disguise for both betis and anderlecht...

 

group g

artmedia bratislava

fc internazionale

rangers fc

fc porto

> inter got new players to help them break their choking perfomances in the competition... porto has already proven themselves by winning the cup a few years ago... rangers is making a return while artmedia will get its baptism of fire...

[teio]

olympique lyonnais somehow landed on a replacement for michael essien with the signing of portuguese international midfielder tiago mendes from chelsea for €10m...

 

the les gones also extended the contract of brazilian playmaker juninho pernambucano for two years...

[bubuy]

champions league draw results...

 

group a

juventus fc

fc bayern munich

 

group b

arsenal fc

ac sparta prague

 

group c

werder bremen

barcelona fc

 

group d

villareal

manchester united

 

group e

ac milan

psv eindhoven

 

group f

olympique lyonnais

real madrid fc

 

group g

real betis balompie

liverpool fc

chelsea fc

rsc anderlecht

 

group h

fc internazionale

fc porto

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

these are my predictions for the group stages.. if you notice in group g i didn't eliminate anyone.. if chelsea and liverpool play two games to a draw, one of the other two teams might sneak in..

[teio]

some players from olympique lyonnais escaped death after their plane made an emergency landing after the fixture against aj auxerre...

 

reports are saying that south korea's lee young-pyo has already been acquired by tottenham hotspur from psv eindhoven...

[teio]

newcastle united have signed prodigous english striker michael owen for €23.5m... owen slipped down the pecking order in real madrid with the entry of both julio baptista and robinho... the switch was the largest in the tyneside team's history eclipsing the €22m shelled out to acquire alan shearer from blackburn rovers... owen's entry brings hope to lift the magpie's from a dismal performance early this season... owen will team up with shearer and fellow new addition albert luque from deportivo la coruña...

 

many fans found themselves scratching their head after learning about the news... last year, owen made a move from liverpool to real madrid... despite an acceptable performance of 13 goals... the galacticos never had a chance to bring home a major european or domestic silverware... and with the signing of the two brazilian strikers... owen found himself having trouble to secure a place for england's world cup team...

 

olympique lyonnais found a better use with some of the money they received for michael essien by spending it with prolific cruziero striker frederico chaves guedes... better known as fred... the 21-year-old brazilian scored 40 goals in his last 43 games... lyon shelled out €15m for the transfer...

 

center back wilfred bouma put pen to paper a four-year contract after aston villa paid €5.1m for his transfer from dutch champions psv eindhoven...

 

olympique de marseille may find life harder in the domestic league despite their winning form in the european scene... but the french outfit has something to smile after securing the service of slovenian center back bostjan cesar from nk dinamo zagreb... meanwhile, scottish champions rangers have brought back greek defender sotirios kyrgiakos... another greek, midfielder georgios karagounis was acquired by portuguese champs sl benfica from internazionale for an undisclosed fee... internazionale's argentinian defender javier zanetti will miss roughly six-weeks after injuring his right thigh...

 

europe gears up with the possible last-minute switches as the august transfer window closes on the 31st... as roma forward antonio cassano had already made it clear that he has no interest in renewing his contract with the capital side... juventus is his next likely destination... acf fiorentina is pursuing rsc anderlecht and sweden winger christian wilhelmsson while out-of-favor forward fabrizio miccoli appears to be bound to sl benfica... psv eindhoven defender lee young-pyo could be strutting his wares in white hart lane with newcastle united winger jermaine jenas... european champs liverpool may have been beaten by newcastle in the race to sign michael owen, but the merseysiders are on the hunt for a center back and right winger as roma's philippe mexes, brondby's daniel agger, and parma's daniele bonera are likely candidates... also, nolberto solano was purchased by liverpool from aston villa... djibril cisse may leave liverpool for either olympique de marseille or as monaco... sidney govou may also be on the move following lyon's purchase of brazilian striker fred... ral madrid appears to be signing up defender sergio ramos from sevilla but coach vanderlei luxemburgo doubts the €27m price tag...

[ruud]

will see how essien will help chelsea lift the epl cup this time. well, im a manutd fan, i do think that van de sar will surely add up the defense line of manutd. he's a leader type of gk, he shouts a lot and gives directions. he has international experience. the kind of gk manutd needed. not to mention the addition of park. ruud in good form. rooney, ronaldo, heinze, smith ... its pretty balanced now.

 

ooooooooohhhhhhh .... united we love you!!

[damaso]

should we give brazil the world cup already?

 

they just thrashed chile 5-0 to qualify. they are the defending world champions, confederations cup champions and copa america champions.

 

the biggest problem is who's gonna play: they are playing an ultra attacking formation with 4 forwards (2 out and out strikers and 2 just behind). for the chile match, twas ronaldo and adriano upfront with robinho and kaka in support. ronaldinho was suspended. adriano banged in a hattrick and robinho scored and set up 2 of adriano's goals. it might be ronaldo who will be benched once ronaldinho comes back.

 

only overconfidence can beat them now, just like what happened in the 82 finals. but they should be installed as heavy favorites for the world cup in germany.

[teio]

well... they'll be susceptible to a counterattack...

[_eRon_]

so sad for england, beaten by northern ireland 1-0..tsk tsk tsk..after this loss & the disappointing loss to denmark,will sven goran erikkson be sacked?..we'll see..

[damaso]

so sad for england, beaten by northern ireland 1-0..tsk tsk tsk..after this loss & the disappointing loss to denmark,will sven goran erikkson be sacked?..we'll see..

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

bad tactics. for some reason, beckham plays a central midfield role, bunching him together with lampard and gerrard. its either he starts in the middle, or he lines up in the right midfield then drifts towards the middle and ends up staying there. sven should tell beckham to stick to the right flank, that way lampard and gerrard have more space in the middle. also, all 3 of them are attack-minded, one should play more of a holding role.