sal Posted October 16, 2009 Report Posted October 16, 2009 Maradona was at his usual best after Argentina qualified for the World Cup... Maradona faces the Press Good to see you back, brownie! Well, the U.S. national team finished top of the table in Concacaf WCQ, by virtue of a thrilling comeback win at Honduras on Saturday, and another thrilling comeback (for a draw) against Costa Rica yesterday. The bad news is, one of our promising forwards, Charlie Davies, is lucky to be alive after a serious auto accident that took the life of one of the other passengers in the vehicle. As if that weren't bad enough, defender Oguchi Onyewu (A.C. Milan reserve player) suffered a torn patella tendon in the Costa Rica match and is expected to be out for perhaps four months. Puts a bit of a damper on the excitement that was building for South Africa... The news about Charlie Davies was very sad in deed. I hope that he makes a full recovery. Hopefully, Onyewu will be back in top form in time for the World Cup. Quote
Van Basten II Posted October 18, 2009 Author Report Posted October 18, 2009 And now new USL champions Montreal Impact !!! After beating our Canadian rivals 3-2 in Vancouver, we scored 3 goals in the first half to kill any chances of a comeback. Why would you care about this championship, well remember this name Mark Dos Santos, this gentleman will make his mark as a coach not only on a domestic level on a higher level of play, either as someone in charge of a national side somewhere down the road or eventually as a the manager of top club in Europe. The work he did with his current team was quite brilliant. Quote
Van Basten II Posted October 21, 2009 Author Report Posted October 21, 2009 Cliff will probably disagree but the Champions League games played today sure gave us plenty of thrills. Among the two games broadcasted here i saw Barcelona upset at home by FC Rubin who were quite opportunistic and Lyon making a nice come back to get a very rare win by a French side in Anfield. From the highlites, they were plenty of other games with plenty of twists and plots. Quote
Van Basten II Posted October 23, 2009 Author Report Posted October 23, 2009 Great week for French teams, although it maybe too little too late for Marseilles, the happy suprise comes from Bordeaux that few expected in front of the Bayern and Juventus. Quote
P.L.M Posted October 23, 2009 Report Posted October 23, 2009 (edited) Hurray for LYON. Even if Liverpool played without Gerrard (who quit the match after 25 minutes) and Torres. The french win was deserved only because they also play with two midfielders (Toulalalan and the very young Gonalons who scores the first goal for Lyon!) at the heart of the defense. A good match, all together if not a great one and Liverpool is now facing the very real possibilitie to be out of the Champion's League at the phase of group qualification. Amazing! For bordeaux, the win was'nt such a great surprise. The team is the most solid of the french championship (and get the best coach: Laurent Blanc) and the Bayern is on the down side also (and was without Ribéry and Robben). The most amazing thing was that Bordeaux miss two penaltys baddly shot by Yoan Gourcuff (one of my favorite player, anyway) and Jussié. Two french team in 1/8 will be amazing. Edited October 26, 2009 by P.L.M Quote
sal Posted October 24, 2009 Report Posted October 24, 2009 Not only Champions League, but Liverpool could pretty much be out of any chances of winning the League if they lose to Manchester United tomorrow. Should be quite the intense match. Meanwhile, Aston Villa played like shit today against Wolves. I thought they'd be brimming with confidence after beating Chelsea last week, but they seem to be having problems against the smaller clubs this season. They were lucky to escape with a point today, given the way they played. Quote
ghost of miles Posted October 24, 2009 Report Posted October 24, 2009 Not a soccer fan, but thought those of you who are might appreciate this clip: 95-yard goal Quote
Van Basten II Posted October 25, 2009 Author Report Posted October 25, 2009 The wind sure took part of it, also the way ball bounced reminded me of the Astroturf in the Metrodome when they started playing baseball. In any case unusual goal to say the least. Quote
Van Basten II Posted October 25, 2009 Author Report Posted October 25, 2009 (edited) My stream was too bad to allow me to comment on the game, but i think Cliff will start to love Futbol again :rsmile: Edited October 25, 2009 by Van Basten II Quote
Van Basten II Posted October 27, 2009 Author Report Posted October 27, 2009 On a lighter note here's 20 of the ugliest jerseys. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/58469-t...ootball-jerseys Quote
B. Goren. Posted October 31, 2009 Report Posted October 31, 2009 (edited) I can't understand what happened to Liverpool... Fulham??? Edited October 31, 2009 by B. Goren. Quote
sal Posted October 31, 2009 Report Posted October 31, 2009 They're now equal in points to Aston Villa, and they've played one more game. Never thought that would be the case, but I ain't complaining. Quote
B. Goren. Posted November 6, 2009 Report Posted November 6, 2009 There is no doubt in my mind that Rafa Benitez is already counting down his days in Liverpool. Quote
sal Posted November 6, 2009 Report Posted November 6, 2009 There is no doubt in my mind that Rafa Benitez is already counting down his days in Liverpool. His substitution philosophy has been quite unusual recently. Surely there's alot of behind the scenes problems going on over there, but I'm sticking to my original theory that a major reason Liverpool is unraveling on the pitch is because they lost Xabi Alonso. There just doesn't seem to be anybody running their midfield anymore. They used to be so organized, and they just don't seem that way anymore. Quote
Van Basten II Posted November 14, 2009 Author Report Posted November 14, 2009 Great win for Les Bleus , we were very good especially in the second half, if Gourcuff and Gignac would not have been so hapless we would have a relazing second leg game. A bit pissed off, that i won't get to see the second game. Quote
brownie Posted November 15, 2009 Report Posted November 15, 2009 Frankly, I didn't think the French team was so great! Their first half was pretty nerve wrecking to watch. Second half had Les Bleus coming together for a change. The interplay between Gourcuff and Anelka led to a deflected goal. And that's what counts in World Cup qualifiers. Best impression from the match came from the exceptional Croke Park crowd Quote
sal Posted November 19, 2009 Report Posted November 19, 2009 WOW......my deepest condolences go out to the Irish of the world. Absolutely no offense to the French team and their supporters, but that Henry hand ball was about as blatant as you can get. How the line official missed that one, I have no idea. I've always been against the use of video replay, but when something like this happens in a match of such magnitude, it gets you thinking. Quote
kenny weir Posted November 19, 2009 Report Posted November 19, 2009 (edited) see below Edited November 19, 2009 by kenny weir Quote
kenny weir Posted November 19, 2009 Report Posted November 19, 2009 (edited) WOW......my deepest condolences go out to the Irish of the world. Absolutely no offense to the French team and their supporters, but that Henry hand ball was about as blatant as you can get. How the line official missed that one, I have no idea. I've always been against the use of video replay, but when something like this happens in a match of such magnitude, it gets you thinking. Henry has come out and admitted the ball "hit" his hand. Crap! The replays make it eloquently clear he deliberately "hit" the ball with his hand - twice! as well, it seems the Irish have legitimate beefs about FIFA seedings for the playoffs. Some things are inevitable in the washup: *Henry will live to regret this cheating - it will follow him the rest of his days. *Whatever success France has in South Africa will be profoundly tainted. *France and all Frenchmen will be profoundly aware of this, no matter what outwardly say. *Go Kiwis, go Socceroos! *Despite New Zealand's easy road to South Africa - through Oceania and playoffs against Bahrain - the Kiwis may yet enlist global from backing from the support-the-underdog mentality. The Irish may be right - that things are rigged in favour of the big teams and big countries. But IMHO the whole qualifying process is such a complex geopolitical exercise that there's always a minnow or two may slip through! Man - how about those Henry replays? Total humiliation! There's no room for the same sort of ambiguity behind which Maradona hid for so many years. Cheating, plain and simple. Another interesting upshot - Guus Hiddink couldn't get the Russians to South Africa, despite presumably limitless cash and his brilliance as a coach. He's mortal! (His mortality has become something to be seriously doubted here on the basis of his efforts with Oz team last time 'round.) Henry will have to live with his Maradona moment for the rest of his life - http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/...24.html?via=rel Edited November 19, 2009 by kenny weir Quote
kenny weir Posted November 19, 2009 Report Posted November 19, 2009 Here's a quote from a post on an LATImes blogs that seems to confirm some of what I posted above: Hey guys... frenchman here. Even though i'm happy that France got qualified (would really have sucked otherwise), our team DEFINITELY didnt deserve it... That team needs some fresh blood and they need to fire Domenech ASAP. Not only was it a blatant (double) handball, it was also offside, and on top of that, they didnt fight at all... seriously Ireland deserved to get qualified and i can tell you that here in france everybody is happy but also ashamed inside for that stolen, honorless win... the celebrations were quite mild i cn tell you http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blo...age/5/#comments Quote
brownie Posted November 19, 2009 Report Posted November 19, 2009 What a shameful way for France to qualify Ireland had the best team and should have won! The qualification also means that the Bleus will be stuck with Domenech for one more year! Quote
EKE BBB Posted November 19, 2009 Report Posted November 19, 2009 What a shameful way for France to qualify Ireland had the best team and should have won! The qualification also means that the Bleus will be stuck with Domenech for one more year! I hope you'll cross La Roja's path Quote
kenny weir Posted November 19, 2009 Report Posted November 19, 2009 From the Independent online: Henry is a player who supposedly has a conscience; he is one of the great performers and characters of the sport, a scorer of quite astounding goals and blessed with breathtaking ability. Yet, from the cross he handled not once, but twice and then celebrated with such unbridled joy that one is left wondering just how much of a conscience he actually has. After the final whistle, Henry sat down beside Richard Dunne, the Irish defender, and tried to console him in the most bizarre manner: "He told us we deserved to win. How is that supposed to make me feel? It makes me feel worse. He's admitted he cheated. We should have won. He just said, 'That's it'. He just said he handled it, he didn't mean it. Looking at it, it's quite obvious he did mean it. It's there for everyone to see and they're not going to change it now. So what can we do? They're going to the World Cup and we're not. That's it." http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=6&am...58613202873K124 Quote
brownie Posted November 19, 2009 Report Posted November 19, 2009 What a shameful way for France to qualify Ireland had the best team and should have won! The qualification also means that the Bleus will be stuck with Domenech for one more year! I hope you'll cross La Roja's path So do I! That will mean the end of Les Bleus at the WC, no doubt! Quote
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