The Football/Soccer Thread

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Originally Posted by bax

Heh.. actually Lyon is one of my favourite to win the Champions' League this time.

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When you have a guy that is able to transform 95% of his freekicks into goals, of course it helps. And it's no matter the distance, no matter the goalkeeper.

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Originally Posted by bax

But it's sad they're playing in less popular league --> when compared to the big ones like EPL, Serie A or La Liga.

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Not less "popular". Football in France is just as popular as in Spain or Italy (especially in three clubs, Lens, Saint-Etienne and Marseille). Just, the level isn't the same at all :sweat And though it pains me a lot to say it, Lyon would be better in a league like the EPL, because they're just too strong for the french Ligue 1 :blink I mean, the season is only halfway and they have a 15pts lead :s Heck, if they want to settle in the EPL, I think I'll take a loan to buy them all one-way plane tickets >.>

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Originally Posted by Xophien

Not less "popular". Football in France is just as popular as in Spain or Italy (especially in three clubs, Lens, Saint-Etienne and Marseille). Just, the level isn't the same at all :sweat And though it pains me a lot to say it, Lyon would be better in a league like the EPL, because they're just too strong for the french Ligue 1 :blink I mean, the season is only halfway and they have a 15pts lead :s Heck, if they want to settle in the EPL, I think I'll take a loan to buy them all one-way plane tickets >.>

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Thats sweet but, you see, there is already a french team in EPL! :p

God knows I`m a big Arsenal-fan, but there too much french in the team! (No offense, anybody)
Plus, There is more than enough teams fighting over the title already.

By the way, how much do think Lyon want for Juninho? :grin2 Thats some insane freekicks!

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Originally Posted by Alex-san

Thats sweet but, you see, there is already a french team in EPL! :p

God knows I`m a big Arsenal-fan, but there too much french in the team! (No offense, anybody)

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Yeah, but with Wenger as the manager, I guess that can't be helped^^" But it's true that seeing that Arsenal has more french players than english players... I mean, of course it's great if the team is the best possible, but as a supporter, if something like that were to happen in my team, it would sadden me quite a lot. I'm not advising a "no foreigners" policy, but well, to me a team with 90% of foreigners just sounds like a team of mercenaries, nothing more. That's kinda sad. And no I don't say that because all the good player are fleeing the french league for the EPL or the Liga or the Seria A or the Bundesliga >.>

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Originally Posted by Alex-san

By the way, how much do think Lyon want for Juninho? :grin2 Thats some insane freekicks!

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Probably too much. He's getting quite old anyway, 31 years old, and I don't think Lyon would sold him to any cost anyway. Ever since they bought him five years ago, they won the french league each year. I'm not saying a single man allowed them to won all the leagues like that, but still, he scored over 40 free kicks in those five years, so of course he is part of the reason Lyon is damn invincible in the french league :darn

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Originally Posted by Xophien

Probably too much. He's getting quite old anyway, 31 years old, and I don't think Lyon would sold him to any cost anyway. Ever since they bought him five years ago, they won the french league each year. I'm not saying a single man allowed them to won all the leagues like that, but still, he scored over 40 free kicks in those five years, so of course he is part of the reason Lyon is damn invincible in the french league :darn

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Know how it feels with one dominant team in the league. Up here in Norway, Rosenborg has won 13 years in a row, from 1992 to 2004. Then finally another team claimed the title last year. But guess what. They won it again this year. :darn

That means they have been champions 16 times in the last 19 seasons! :s



.....I still want Juninho.... :p

I'd post here more, but I'm not terribly interested in non Greek soccer unless it's Uefa.
My team is Aek fav player was Demis Nikolaidis before he retired (early) and became the president of the club.

I get fox sports, and English soccer is on at times, but.... please take no offense to this, but I cannot STAND your god awful announcers. I want to grab my tv and toss it out the window, I want to cockslap those god damn announcers with their annoying voices. If you've ever heard Howard Stern's morning show, when he has the "bababababababa" sound effect play during annoying interviews, that's exactly what it sounds like.

Besides that, they tend to show Chelsey, and I hate Lampard with a passion.

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Originally Posted by refii

Besides that, they tend to show Chelsey, and I hate Lampard with a passion.

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I like you! :amuse

What do you think about Trond Sollied getting fired from Olympiakos? He is norwegian, so its a big deal here in Norway, obviously.

Well, here's the thing about Greek soccer: It makes the Italian corruption look like a couple of lies.

Greek soccer has been in the pits since the 70's when the "hounda" or military dictatorship took power in Greece. Since then Olympiakos has had a lot of money and they used to use it well. Nowdays they just bribe the referees and buy the biggest name stars they can afford.

The problem with Olympiakos isn't Trond Sollied, what they wanted was another Savas Kofidis (ex coach of Iraklis who took a losing streak of 11 games and got them to 4th place within the second half of the season, one of the most incredible coaches, and players I have ever seen in action) or a Sera Ferer who has taken a decent AEK and make them work so well as a team that they beat Milan and Lille, even winning the first UEFA game ever. (we had all ties up to that point, even with Real Madrid).

Speaking of Real Madrid, that's how I see Olympiakos, buy a bunch of good players, stick them together, except in Olympiakos's case they aren't that good so they can't do miracles like Real does.
So overall, and no offense to Trond Sollied, because I think he is a gutsy and decent coach, the problem was that he wasn't a miracle worker, like 2 other coaches in Greece have been recently, and so Olympiakos has placed the entire blame in him. Because they would never place the blame in old man Rivaldo *rolls eyes* nope, he's our God.

EPL Match for Dec 30th 2006

Charlton Athletic 2-1 Aston Villa
CHA: D. Bent 57', Hughes 90'; AST: Barry (pen.) 40'

Blackburn R. 2-1 Middlesbrough
BLA: Nonda 9', McCarthy 74'; MID: Yakubu (pen.) 61'

Bolton W. 3-2 Portsmouth
BOL: Diagne-Faye 30', Campo 40', Anelka 62'; POR: Taylor 2', Cole 89'

Chelsea 2-2 Fulham
CHE: Rosenior (o.g.) 35', Drogba 62'; FUL: Volz 2', Bocanegra 82'

Everton 3-0 Newcastle U.
EVE: Anichebe 9', 57', Neville 62'

Manchester U. 3-2 Reading
MANU: Solksjaer 33', Ronaldo 58', 77'; REA: Sonko 38', Lita 90'

Tottenham H. 0-1 Liverpool
LIV: Garcia 45'

Watford 1-1 Wigan Athletic
WAT: Priskin 44'; WIG: Heskey 23' (Game suspended due to rain)

West Ham U. 0-1 Manchester C.
MANC: Beasley 83'

Sheffield U. 1-0 Arsenal
SHE: Nade 41'

I only care about Liverpool so YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :yelling :yelling
Garcia is wonderful, as usual. :luv

But interestingly, Arsenal lose. O.o Sheffield really pull it off this time around, huh? XD

Yup, their goalkeeper made some great saves and when the final whistle blew, they were celebrating like they just won the league :D

o.O :scry

Arsenal lost >.< Like I said, their defence are just too penetrable >.<
Wenger... go find one or two good defenders....

EPL Match for January 1st 2007

Liverpool 3-0 Bolton W.
LIV: Crouch 61', Gerrard 63', Kuyt 83'

Fulham 0-0 Watford

Manchester C. 2-1 Everton
MANC: Samaras 50', (pen.) 72'; EVE: Osman 84'

Middlesbrough 3-1 Sheffield U.
MID: Viduka 36', Yakubu 69', (pen.) 76'; SHE: Jagielka (pen.) 45'

Portsmouth 1-1 Tottenham H.
POR: Benjani 29'; TOT: Malbranque 50'

Reading 6-0 West Ham U.
REA: Gunnarsson 12', Hunt 14', A. Ferdinand (o.g.) 30', K. Doyle 36', 78', Lita 53'

Wigan Athletic 0-3 Blackburn R.
BLA: Heskey (o.g.) 44', M. Derbyshire 58', B. McCarthy (pen.) 76'

Newcastle U. 2-2 Manchester U
NEWC: Milner 33', Edgar 77' ; MANU: Scholes 40', 46'

EPL Match for January 2nd 2007

Arsenal 4-0 Charlton Athletic
ARS: Henry 30', Hoyte 46', Van Persie 76', 90'

Aston Villa 0-0 Chelsea

Yay, Arsenal won! :grin

After a humiliating defeat against Sheff Utd, they made amends.


Sheffield did play with a midfielder as goalkeeper the last 30 minuts after all.... :-(

Yesh... Arsenal play brilliantly ^^ And Chelsea drew again ^^ :woo

I wonder what happened to Chelsea though. Before yesterday's match, they have conceded two goals in 4 straight matches.

They don't have John Terry right now. With the England's skipper missing it's not that hard to score against Chelsea. What's hard is keeping them from not scoring back. :D[br]Posted on: January 03, 2007, 05:26:21 AM_________________________________________________Thanks for updating the scoresheet, bax :D