Discussion The Football/Soccer Thread

[Seiken]

We are on the top of the league!

Damn its good be on an Arsenalfan these days.

 

[Mendes]

yeah Arsenal is doing great. They are comming back to what they used to be in their golden time. Fabregas is doing great in Vieira's place, and Adebayor in Henry's place. The young defensive line is very good and van Persie is (at least to me) much better than Robert Pires was. When Rosicky gets back to his finest shape, Arsenal will be something to fear, even for MU. Their only weakness is the lack of valid solutions, in the eventuality of injuries affecting the same section, specially in the attack.

Well, this week's break in the european leagues is replaced by the qualifying for the Euro 2008, with many top nations in difficult positions.

In Group A, Portugal is 3rd and needs desperately the win over Cazaquistan and Azerbaijan.
In Group B, Both France and Italy are behind Scotland, and they need to get the victory over Georgia and Faroe Islands, respectively.
In Group E, England is still behind Croatia. Last game they got to the 2nd place with the victory over Russia, but they cant loose points at home vs Estonia, else they may loose the 2nd place again
In group F, Spain has a very difficult match, in Denmark's stadium, although Sweeden, which shares the 1st spot with Spain, has a tough match against N. Ireland.
In the last group, G, Romenia and Holland share the 1st spot. This week they will face each other in Romenia. Bulgaria may win from this, since they are only 2 points behind.

Its curious, of all the favorite teams to win the European title, only Germany is alone on top of the qualifying group (and its one of the strongest group as well)
Well, good luck for your countries games, except if you are from Cazaquistan and Azerbaijan, Montenegro, Poland and Finland :P

 

[Patoz]

Well, good luck for your countries games, except if you are from Cazaquistan and Azerbaijan, Montenegro, Poland and Finland :P

Why?

BTW, for you, what is the stongest football league? (for me is Seria A or the Premiere League)
Second question: In the match Celtic Glasgow - Milan, Dida, the GK, simulated?

 

[Lohnt]

Bleh, my team is in a semi-difficult group

Group C
1. Villarreal CF (ESP)
2. AEK Athens FC (GRE)
3. ACF Fiorentina (ITA)
4. FK Mladá Boleslav (CZE)
5. IF Elfsborg (SWE)

Sadly, Elfsborg has immitation grass, much like Salzburg.. which they no doubt will use to their advantage by wetting it like Salzburg did. Honestly, Uefa really NEEDS to make it legal that all grass should be real and not prosthetic. Its an unfair advantage that doesnt even compare to paying off refs and stuff, its like having an obstacle course..

Then again I guess other stadiums have advantages as well. Quito in Ecuador is at such a high elevation, even Brazil has trouble defeating them because the elevation makes it harder to breath (Skypiea lolz)

Anyway.. I think we'll advance, I'm a little worried about Aris our fellow Greek club that is in Bayern's group =/ They finally got a good team this season as well.

---

strongest league is Serie A (Italy) or Primera Division (Spain)

I realize England's league is recently stronger than both, but Spain's league is consistently in both Cup and League final 's (at least 2 teams per =/) and Italy's Milan is just unstoppable in the last couple of years.

I wouldn't underestimate Greek clubs this season during your betting btw Jiraya, this is the most competitive season in Greek soccer, we have 4 legendary coaches (Ferer, Bajevic, Peseira and Donis), Olympiacos bought out really good players from Primiera Division, Premier league AND Ligue 1 (rich assholes). Also most of these teams have nothing to lose, and every reason to play harder since Euro 2008 is coming up, and many of our players are getting older, thus the younger players want to take their spots, to defend our crown =p.

 

[Mendes]

Why?

BTW, for you, what is the stongest football league? (for me is Seria A :thumb or the Premiere League)
Second question: In the match Celtic Glasgow - Milan, Dida, the GK, simulated?

Why? Because those nations are playing against Portugal in the group... and we are in a tough situation (3rd place x( ). I guess I cant wish them luck :P

The strongest league... that's a difficult question. I'd say the Premier League is the best one to watch, the most spectacular. However, the league with more prestige and 'stars' is definitely La Liga. There's also the Italian League which is, atm, the most competitive, specially now that Juve is back and there are no teams starting with negative points.

I believe the spanish league is, overall, the one with the strongest teams. The way I see it, Barça and Madrid are probably, the best teams in the world, siding with MU only. Sevilla, Atletico Madrid, Valencia are also extremely strong.

I didnt see the game between Celtic and Milan.. so I cant answer your question. I personally dont enjoy Milan's playing style, even tough it has revealed itself perfect in the champions league. I prefer Roma and specially Inter's playing styles.

Haha, speaking of the Italian League, today I started playing the oldschool CM 01-02 again :P It was very nostalgic. Do you guys remember Lazio's team in 2001? Peruzzi, Zauri, Pancaro, Nesta, Stam, Mendieta, Veron, Fiore, Kovacevic, Crespo... xD omg!

@refii

I'm not familiarized with UEFA Cup's rules in the group stage. How many teams per group can pass to the next round? If its 3, then AEK has everything to do it, but I believe they will place after Fiorentina and even Villareal (although Vilareal is weaker this year).

Ha, now you speak of Bayern... Belenenses, one of our portuguese teams in the UEFA cup was eliminated by them in the previous stage. Now, Braga, the only portuguese team that went to the group stage, is in the same group as Munich... we've been very unlucky in the drawings :/ still, Braga is the strongest team in portugal after the 3 best teams. I have faith that they will go to the next round (if 3 teams go through) after Bayern and Bolton. I know nothing about Aris, but theorically they seem the weakest in that group

 

[Imperium]

We are on the top of the league!

Damn its good be on an Arsenalfan these days.

keep the faith brother , well arsenal have been nothing short of spectacular, and even with henry we gone they showed those critics

but hopefully it will stay this way...

 

[Lohnt]

I'm not familiarized with UEFA Cup's rules in the group stage. How many teams per group can pass to the next round? If its 3, then AEK has everything to do it, but I believe they will place after Fiorentina and even Villareal (although Vilareal is weaker this year).

Yea it's the top three. but to be honest I think we'll be second at the very least. Both Fiorentina and Villa are playing in Greece (no home games, one game per) and our arena is very strong, so I don't think Fiorentina can beat us on home terf. Plus, our transfers this season kick ass, I wouldn't be surprised if big name teams start buying our players next season. Juve is already eyeing Papastathopoulos before he gets older and gets more expensive.

 

[Mendes]

That may be true... I dont know much about the greek teams. I know AEK coz the portuguese coach Fernando Santos coached them 2 or 3 times. Olympiakos still has Rivaldo?
About your group, if 3 teams go trough, then AEK should move up, specially because Vilareal is far weaker this season. I'd say fiorentina is the favorite. They have a very nice team and they are, in my view, one of the favorites to win the UEFA cup, along with Bayern, Atletico Madrid and Tottenham

 

[Patoz]

Haha, speaking of the Italian League, today I started playing the oldschool CM 01-02 again :P It was very nostalgic. Do you guys remember Lazio's team in 2001? Peruzzi, Zauri, Pancaro, Nesta, Stam, Mendieta, Veron, Fiore, Kovacevic, Crespo... xD omg!

sigh... the Lazio was a great team... That team could kicks Manchester and Barcellona's asses...

 

[Mendes]

sigh... the Lazio was a great team... That team could kicks Manchester and Barcellona's asses...

lol so true! It was a shame what happened to Lazio. The same happened with Leeds united and Fiorentina, although Lazio in 2000 was extreme. The proof is they got the Serie A that year (or 1999, dont remember) against opponents like Juve (with Zidane, Thuram, Vieri, Iuliano, Zambrotta, Montero, Pessoto, Del Piero and Nedved) and Milan and Inter always had amazing teams. If I remember correctly, Lazio and Roma dominated for 2 or 3 years at that time

 

[Lohnt]

About your group, if 3 teams go trough, then AEK should move up, specially because Vilareal is far weaker this season. I'd say fiorentina is the favorite. They have a very nice team and they are, in my view, one of the favorites to win the UEFA cup, along with Bayern, Atletico Madrid and Tottenham

Actually Aek has Rivaldo now..

The basic squad is more or less:

Spoiler

Macho (the National goalkeeper of Austria) 0 goals allowed in the regular season
Arruabarrena ( Villareal's captain from last season)
Dellas (Greek national)
Geraldo Alves (his brother used to play for us, and is portugese national now)
Zikos (top player from Monaco's 2004 team)
Nsaliwa Tamandani (You'll be hearing his name more in the future)
Tozser (hungarian national)
Julio Cezar Da Silva (scored the foul against Milan that won us that game last Champs League)
Rivaldo (self explanatory)
Liberopoulos (Greek national)
Blanco (Argentinean B division top scorer)

Coach: Ferer (of Barca fame)

My favorites for the cup would have to be Benfica, Sevilla if they drop from Champs, and Bayern and Leverkusen from the current cup, I honestly don't think too highly of Atletico in the recent seasons, they just don't really stand out for me, there are better teams..

 

[Mendes]

: O I didnt knew AEK had invested this much :P I know Dellas, he played in Roma. Nice defender. Arrubarrena's a great player as well. With Rivaldo and Liberopoulos in the attack, seems like a very nice team to me (and I dont know half of the players).

Atletico Madrid is pretty strong this year. They were massacred by barça, but that's no shame at all. Check out their attack: Simao(former Benfica's best player), Reyes, Maxi Rodriguez, Luis garcia, Kun Aguero, Forlan... this many world class attackers makes them favorite in the UEFA cup IMO. Tottenham is the eternal favorite for the UEFa Cup as well :P

Anyway, if Benfica frops the champions, I really doubt they are favorites in the UEFa. They're really weak this season and they are in a very bad position in their CL group. Probably they will get the last place there. Out of the portuguese teams in CL, Sporting is the team that, most likely will fall to the UEFA cup, since they're stuck with Roma and MU in the same group. If they go to the UEFA then they'll be favorites

EDIT:nice sig Jiraya :P

 

[Lohnt]

As for champs league, my bet is for Barca, there are many other teams I could bet for (Milan, MU, Liverpool, Arsenal, Real) but they have a really awesome team, that turns me all fanboy =p (Henry, Yaya Toure, Deco, Ronaldinho, Messi).. they just have SOO many answers in the middle and in the offense.. their defense is pretty good too as far as I can tell. If there was such a thing as an offensive dream team, it would have to be the squad they used against Lyon for me..


But my black horse is going to be Shaktar.. I'm really looking foward to their match with Milan, they really have a good team this season as well.

 

[Mendes]

I totally agree. Its amazing that they can build a perfect offensive team and they can even let Iniesta taste he bench... I personally would put Iniesta in Deco's place, but that's just me :P
My 'black horse' would be Fenerbahce. Alex is in great shape and they improved their squad a lot this year. Their game against Inter was amazing, and with players like edu dracena, roberto carlos, appiah, kezman, alex and deivid I believe they have everything to reach the final 16

---

Second question: In the match Celtic Glasgow - Milan, Dida, the GK, simulated?

haha now i get what you meant :P I just saw in youtube! Haha what a poor act! He was going straight after the intruder when he decided to fall :P I wonder why he did it... he was loosing the match. The only thing he won was a suspension for the next 2 CL's games

 

[Ichimaru Gin n Tonic]

Anyone catch the World Cup Qualifying games last night? There's gonna be several games too, tonight.

 

[Mendes]

Argentina won 2-0 with Chile, 2 goals from Riquelme. Peru and Paraguay 0-0, Venezuela won 1-0 in Equador, Uruguay gave 5-0 against bolivia

I didnt see any match, but maybe today ill see Brazil playing away against Colombia

 

[Ichimaru Gin n Tonic]

Oh, here's the complete result for Euro 2008 Qualifying match last night:
'
Grup A
Azerbaijan 0 (KM Aslan Karimov 28)
Portugal 2 (Bruno Alves 12, Hugo Almeida 45)

Armenia 0
Serbia 0

Poland 3 (Euzebiusz Smolarek 55, 63, 65)
Kazakhstan 1 (Dmitriy Biakov 19)

Belgia 0
Finlandia 0


Group B
Faroe Island 0
France 6 ( Nicolas Anelka 7, Thierry Henry 8, Karim Benzema 49, 79, Jerome Rothen 64, Hatem Ben Arfa 90+3)

Scotland 3 (Kenny Miller 4, Lee McCulloch 10, James McFadden 68)
Ukraine 1 (Andriy Shevchenko 24)

Italy 2 (Andrea Pirlo 43, Fabio Grosso 83)
Georgia 0


Group C
Hungary 2 (Robert Feczesin 34, Daniel Tozser 77)
Malta 0

Moldova 1 (Viorel Frunza 17)
Turkey 1 (Umit Karan 62)

Greece 3 (Angelos Charisteas 10, Fanis Gekas 57, Nikos Lyberopoulos 72)
Bosnia 2 (Mirko Hrgovic 54; KM 55, Vedad Ibisevic 90+1)


Group D
Slovakia 7 (Marek Hamsik 25, Stanislav Sestak 32, 57, Marek Sapara 37, Martin Skrtel 51, Filip Holosko 54, Jan Durica 76 pen)
San Marino 0

Cyprus 3 (Ioannis Okkas 59, 68, Constantinos Charalambides 79)
Wales 1 (James Collins 21)

Ireland 0
Jerman 0

Group E
England 3 (Shaun Wright-Phillips 11, Wayne Rooney 32, Taavi Rahn own goal 33)
Estonia 0

Croatia 1 (Eduardo da Silva 52)
Israel 0

Group F
Islandia 2 (Eidur Gudjohnsen 3, 52)
Latvia 4 (Oskars Klava 26, Jurijs Laizans 30, Maris Verpakovskis 36, 46)

Liechtenstein 0
Sweden 3 (Fredrik Ljungberg 19, Christian Wilhelmsson 29, Anders Svensson 56)

Denmark 1 (Jon Dahl Tomasson 88)
Spain 3 (Raul Tamudo 14, Sergio Ramos 40, Albert Riera 89)


Group G
Belarus 0
Luxembourg 1 (Alphonse Leweck 90+5)

Rumania 1 (Dorin Goian 72)
Holland 0

Slovenia 0
Albania 0

 

[Mendes]

yeah Finlandia drew, we're 2nd xD

Well, a few days ago Fifa announced the 30 nominees for the 2007 World's Best Player:

Buffon (Italy)
Cannavaro (Italy)
Cech (C. Republic)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)
Deco (Portugal)
Drogba (Ivory Coast)
Essien (Ghana)
Eto´o (Camaroon)
Gattuso (Italy)
Gerrard (England)
Henry (France)
Juninho (Brasil)
Kaká (Brasil)
Klose (Germany)
Lahm (Germany)
Lampard (England)
Marquez (México)
Messi (Argentina)
Nesta (Italy)
Pirlo (Italy)
Ribéry (France)
Riquelme (Argentina)
Ronaldinho (Brasil)
Rooney (England)
Terry (England)
Tevez (Argentina)
Thuram (France)
Torres (Spain)
Van Nistelrooy (Holland)
Vieira (France)

I personally find it unbelievable that Totti and Zlatan are out of the nominees. Thuram is a great player, but he was in the bench for the whole year and Marquez isnt better than Lucio, Carvalho and Ferdinand.

My choice for world's best player in 2007 would be van Nistelrooy, Kaka in 2nd and Gerrard in 3rd

Who would you guys choose?

 

[Patoz]

For me, 1st Buffon, 2nd Ronaldinho, 3rd Messi.

 

[Lohnt]

I don't know, none of those nominees stand out from each other quite like othrers have in the past.

I guess I would give Messi, Kaka and Van Nistelrooy my votes though