Yowza....a tip of the cap to our friends at Grantland and the "Men in Blazers" podcast: Salivate instead over the prospect of a weekend which will reveal last second answers to these questions: Will that “Little Train that Could “Manchester City finish above United? (We think: YES!) Can Spurs ingest enough testosterone tablets to finish above Arsenal? (We think: Don’t be stupid) Can those plucky pickpockets, chimney sweeps and assorted street urchins at Everton avoid wobbling at the last and finish above gold-gilded Liverpool? (We think: Not in the face) If Newcastle qualify for the Champions League will topless mobs be a look that will sweep the Paris runways this fall? (We think: Some styles never go out of fashion) Can the emotionally exhausted Bolton summon the energy to stay up and chuck QPR through the Moon Door? (We think: Too close to call) Thanks to Fox television we will be able to see each and every kick as all of the games will be sprayed across their cable empire on manly-named channels we had no idea existed, including FUEL, Speed, Throbbing Hard-On, and Chest-Wig. A Caligula-esque orgy of the football variety awaits us my friends (see game list below) Gird those loins. I. AMERICA! HERE ARE YOUR WEEKEND PLANS All matches start at 10:00am ET on Sunday, May 13. - Manchester City v. QPR: ESPN2 - Sunderland v. Manchester United: FX - West Brom v. Arsenal: Fox Sports Net - Tottenham v Fulham: FOX Soccer - Everton v. Newcastle: foxsoccer.com - Chelsea v. Blackburn: SPEED - Swansea v. Liverpool: FUELtv - Norwich v. Aston Villa: FOX Soccer 2Go - Stoke v. Bolton: FOX Soccer Plus - Wigan v. Wolves: FOX Soccer 2Go
Yeah when they went to a "straight bunker with 10 men" strategy, they did seem to play a bit better. Go figure.
This surely was a fantastic few months for U.S. internationals playing outside the States. Avi Creditor at put it all in perspective in this SI.com piece. His story is, of course, dominated by the one man whose exploits pushed all the others into the Yanks abroad undercard. Clint Dempsey’s 23 goals in all competitions for Fulham (and 17 in league play) will be difficult to top. There are tons of little tidbits about various Yanks abroad in the SI.com piece.
Jurgen Klinsmann starting to piece together the team that will face Scotland, Brazil and Canada ahead of the start of World Cup qualifying (June 8 against Antigua and Barbuda). For now, the 16 who will be in Florida, as copy-and-pasted from U.S. Soccer’s web site: GOALKEEPERS (3): Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake) DEFENDERS (4): Carlos Bocanegra (Rangers), Edgar Castillo (Club Tijuana), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Alfredo Morales (Hertha Berlin) MIDFIELDERS (8): Kyle Beckerman (Real Salt Lake), Michael Bradley (Chievo Verona), Joe Corona (Club Tijuana), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Fabian Johnson (Hoffenheim), Jermaine Jones (Schalke 04), Jose Torres (Pachuca), Danny Williams (Hoffenheim) FORWARDS (1): Clint Dempsey (Fulham)
I don't understand the hostility some people feel toward Timmy Chandler for declining the U.S. callup. The dude was born in Germany, has lived there all his life, and doesn't feel a connection to the USA. That's ok, and his prerogative. Sucks for us, but we'll be ok. The Rossi case was entirely different. In other news, Kenny Dalglish was sacked. Not surprised at all by that one. Who's up next?
wait what???!?!? Doh, it's true... I think that's a bad move. LFC were VERY unlucky in many of their games this season. Hitting the post become an art form. Putting Agger next to Skrtel was solid. Their style of play was vastly better than under Hodgson. What happens now? wow....
Kenny D. return home to Blackburn......but first help get rid or Venky's(or get them to let smart people run the club)!!!!!
Congratulations man! What a season. Nice to see Juve back on top again. I mentioned on some other post, being Milanista I have too much respect for Juve, love the bianconeri-rossoneri rivalry, to me is Il vero Derby d'Italia. Congratz again and enjoy it!
II. NON-CHELSEA FANS: HOW DO YOU CRACK THE SOPHIE’S CHOICE OF WHO TO ROOT FOR IN THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL? I ended up writing a piece about this Sophie's choice for ESPN, but we also asked the question to GFOP's over Facebook. Here was one of the more insightful answers we received: epic opinion.....LOL
WestHamU and big Sam Allardyce back in the PL.....salt in the wounds to Blackburn fans and those crafty Venky's!....
Has anyone seen Bayern's finishing? Put it on a milk carton! McFly had a howler. So I guess Drogba probably won't be leaving Chelsea now, eh? Unless they sell him when his price would be at its highest.
I watched the championship playoff game, did you? It was a good match, actually. Didn't see West Ham going through halfway through the second half; Blackpool came out swinging. What an ending though!
aaaaand the day after I say that, Drogba announces he's leaving Chelsea. Guessing he joins Anelka in China, or plays for $$ in Qatar.
[video=youtube;vL5Ph0D_H2M]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL5Ph0D_H2M[/video] Some of these moves are crazy!
For Juan Agudelo, Alfredo Morales, Danny Williams and Graham Zusi, the summer of U.S. national team involvement is over, barring an injury or something else unforseen. U.S. national team manager Jurgen Klinsmann has trimmed the roster from 27 to 23 for three upcoming friendlies and the first two qualifiers for World Cup 2014.
Euro 2012 in a couple of weeks... which group is the Group of Death? B or C?? Tough call... Group A Poland Greece Russia Czech Republic Group B Netherlands Denmark Germany Portugal Group C Spain Italy Republic of Ireland Croatia Group D Ukraine Sweden France England Bolded are my picks to move on. But real low expectations for England this time, which means they'll likely win it.
Definitely B imo. Germany, Netherlands, and Portugal are all ranked top 5 in the FIFA world rankings with Denmark ranked 10th. Germany is the best team in the competition imo and I feel the Dutch could be #2 ahead of Spain. Portugal is very good and Denmark is solid. C has Spain who are arguably the best team. Italy I feel is a bit overrated this year. I like Croatia over them myself, but even they would be the 4th best team in group B imo.
Yeah, would have to think Roy Hodgson's England boys are just glad Norway is not part of the pairing: [video=youtube;PqZTP8-8wIs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqZTP8-8wIs[/video] Bjørge Lillelien famous 1981 Commentary after Norway had Beaten England 2-1 in a World Cup Qualifier. The man called out Lord Nelson, Lord Beaverbrook, Sir Winston Churchill, Lady Diana and Maggie Thatcher (among others).........with the "Your Boys Took A Hell Of A Beating". ... truly truly epic! Best summation commentary ever.
Outclassed by Brazil. No surprise there either, but..... ouch. 4-1. Scoreline didn't really reflect how the game went though; I thought the US created plenty of chances and (for the most part) played toe-to-toe with Brazil. Credit to the 5-time world champs though, they are a great team. Neymar is fun to watch.
Anyone watching the US Open Cup matches, or following them at all? For those that don't know what it is, it's the equivalent of the FA Cup, but over here in the states. 9 of 16 MLS teams were knocked out by lower level competition in the 3rd play-in round. Wow. The best was last night - a USASA league team, Cal FC (I think it's like 4th or 5th division) beat the Portland Timbers (MLS side, first division) by a score of 1-0. I think I read it was the first time a USASA team scored a goal against a MLS team in the competition, and the first time an adult-league team beat a MLS side. In another game, the New England Revolution played Harrisburg (a NASL team IIRC, 2nd division) to a 0-0 tie. In overtime, New England scored three goals. You think that would wrap up the game against a lower-division side, no? Harrisburg came back to score 3 goals in the second period of overtime, scoring the last in extra time of the second overtime period. The game went to PKs and Harrisburg advanced. Unbelievable. The really tragic part of all this is most of these games were pretty amazing to watch, but none were on regular TV. I was watching internet feeds where I could find them and saw most of the matches. I don't care if you don't like MLS, the games were quality and fun to watch. (Hell, I'll watch Qatari soccer if it's interesting). What a round, though. Columbus, Chicago, Portland, Dallas, Houston, the LA Galaxy, New England, and RSL are all out. Really amazing stuff. That's why I love this sport! Of course the Sounders won last night, 5-1 against the Atlanta Silverbacks. I was at the game..... fun! The bracket: http://thecup.us/2012-us-open-cup-bracket/
Lampard is being replaced by Jordan Henderson due to injury for Euro 2012... Good news, we won't see Lampard and Gerrard on the field at the same time (that never worked)... bad news, hope we don't see Henderson at all. He wasn't very good this season for LFC. Certainly not going forward. He had his moments playing backwards though.
I admit, I didnt know this tourney existed, and never new about the lower divisions existed either, as part of this....quite interesting!
It's good stuff. The tournament has been around since 1914, one of the oldest in the world. I just love David & Goliath stories
The Premier League released list - club by club Arsenal Manuel Almunia (Goalkeeper, aged 35) Gavin Hoyte (Defender, 21) Aston Villa Carlos Cuellar (Defender, 30) Emile Heskey (Forward, 34) Blackburn Rovers Vincenzo Grella (Midfielder, 32) Michel Salgado (Defender, 36) Bolton Wanderers Robbie Blake (Forward, 36) Sean Davis (Midfielder, 32) Ricardo Gardner (Defender, 33) Jussi Jaaskelainen (Goalkeeper, 37) Ivan Klasnic (forward, 32) Zat Knight (Defender, 32) Paul Robinson (Defender, 33) Gretar Steinsson (Defender, 30) Chelsea Jose Bosingwa (Defender, 29) Didier Drogba (Forward, 34) Salomon Kalou (Forward, 26) Everton Marcus Hahnemann (Goalkeeper, 39) James McFadden (Forward, 29) Fulham Andrew Johnson (Forward, 31) Danny Murphy (Midfielder, 35) Pavel Pogrebnyak (right, forward, 28) Bjorn Riise (Midfielder, 28) Liverpool Fabio Aurelio (Defender, 32) Manchester City Owen Hargreaves (Midfielder, 31) Andreas Mancini (Forward, 19) Stuart Taylor (Goalkeeper, 31) Manchester United Tomasz Kuszczak (Goalkeeper, 30) Michael Owen (Forward, 32) Newcastle United Danny Guthrie (Midfielder, 25) Peter Lovenkrands (Forward, 32) Alan Smith (Forward, 31) Norwich City Aaron Wilbraham (Forward, 32) Queens Park Rangers Patrick Agyemang (Forward, 31) Akos Buzsaky (Midfielder, 30) Radek Cerny (Goalkeeper, 38) Daniel Gabbidon (Defender, 32) Fitz Hall (Defender, 31) Peter Ramage (Defender, 28) Danny tu (Defender, 31) Rowan Vine (Forward, 35) Stoke City Salif Diao (Midfielder, 35) Ricardo Fuller (forward, 32) Sunderland Craig Gordon (Goalkeeper, 29) Swansea City Ferrie Bodde (Midfielder, 30) Tottenham Hotspur Ben Alnwick (Goalkeeper, 25) Ledley King (Defender, 31) Ryan Nelsen (Defender, 34) Louis Saha (right, forward, 33) West Bromwich Albion Keith Andrews (Midfielder, 31) Marton Fulop (Goalkeeper, 29) Paul Scharner (Midfielder, 32) Nicky Shorey (Defender, 31) Somen Tchoyi (Midfielder, 29) Wigan Athletic Mohamed Diame (Midfielder, 24) Steve Gohouri (Defender, 31) Chris Kirkland (Goalkeeper, 31) Hugo Rodallega (Forward, 26) Wolves Jody Craddock (Defender, 36) Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...e-released-list--club-club.html#ixzz1wfT04Hlz
And now England has lost Cahill for the Euros with a broken jaw (terrible push by the Belgium player Mertens?) No Cahill worse than losing Lampard and Barry combined. Lescott alongside Terry is not what I would call the perfect match. Maybe better to go with Jagielka?
U.S. had a poor showing versus Canada, finishing 0-0. I'd call that a loss. The only thing worse than the final score was watching the match. Ugh, boring. How big is that talent dropoff from Fabian Johnson to Edgar Castillo at LB? Ouch. Tuesday night on FSC, 10 p.m. EST, 7 PST is the Open Cup match between Sounders FC (1st division) and Cal FC (5th division). Watch the cinderalla story of Cal FC come to an end! Haha
So Goliath absolutely destroyed David, 5-0. Cinderella story came to an abrupt end. Still, Cal FC fought hard and given their circumstances, should hold their heads high. For those that didn't know, Cal FC is coached by Eric Wynalda and was put together about two months ago specifically for the Open Cup. They definitely punched above their weight. Tomorrow: USMNT qualifier against Antigua, a minnow. Still, the fact we couldn't really hang a goal on Canada makes me a bit nervous going into this qualifying round...
Fun 1-1 draw to open up Euro2012 tween POL and GRE. Shoddy red card to GRE...dont know what the ref was watching on the two yellows to GRE player, both were clean plays IMO. What a great job on the backup POL goal keeper to come off the bench and block the PK. wow.
Agreed. The first card was a joke but the Greeks ended up playing much better with a man down. The second one was warranted. Szczesny. That PK save was the highlight of the game. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Russians are up two nil at the half over the Czech Republic. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- In other news, here we go: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...English-speaking-fans-attacked-in-Poland.html That didn't take long.