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Official Football Thread 2006/2007 (Soccer)

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There are other teams being bought out by billionnaires as well of course, could be that neither Arsenal or Tottenham are in the top 4! Really depends how much these guys are willing to spend on their squads.
 
Another aspect of the population argument is that the best athletes in the US tend to focus on one of four other sports. Soccer is the sport for white suburban kids who can't make the cut for the football team. What if LaDainian Tomlinson grew up idolizing Pele, Maradona, and Cantona instead of Brown, Peyton, and Smith?
 
Sorry, I meant in a couple years time. I suppose with Chelsea levels of spending a team could knock one of the top 4 out this year, but even then Arsenal would feel they can take on Liverpool and make them play in the UEFA Cup instead.
 
jamesinclair said:
I really hate the B team excuse. Are you telling me a country of 300 million only has 11 A players, and subbing 3 of them makes it a B team? Mexico was missing 5 "A" players and beat Brazil. Teams are dyanmic, lineups change from month to month, so missing a few players should not be a big deal.
Click to expand...
Have you forgotten that soccer is probably 5th in terms of importance for athletes in this country? Mexico has futbol and baseball, and baseball is played in like 4 provinces. Yes we have a population of 300 million but it's spread out between baseball, basketball, football, and a few hockey players. Our best athletes don't play soccer they play one of the three or four I mentioned above. In the future when those 18 million kids who are playing soccer are grown up you will have a point but not at this moment.
 
oh, I agree. I think that Tottenham, Newcastle, Aston Villa and West Ham will come closer and closer over the next 5 years.

But we shouldn't forget that the top 4 won't rest on their laurels and there is no evidence that these clubs will have more money available than, say Arsenal.
 
Hmmmm, I expected to wake up to Wenger's extension and Grimandi taking the DoF position. Boooo. Oh well, hopefully those are still in the works and we'll hear about them in a few days.
 
Cisse's about to sign for Marseille, I've no idea how much for. Should hasten the Torres signing anyhow.

What do Liverpool fans think of this formation?

---------------------Reina------------------

Finnan---Carragher------Agger-----Riise

------Alonso----Mascherano---Lucas-----

----Gerrard---------------------Torres-----

----------------------Kuyt-------------------

As ever, don't take my formation too rigidly, I know Mascherano would be further back than Alonso, Torres wouldn't really be out there on the left wing, I simply mean he'd be a supporting striker. It's basically the same as Barcelona play, only whilst Ronaldinho and Messi really are both right in the middle of being a striker and a midfielder, in this case, it would tilt slightly towards Gerrard helping out in midfield when needed and Torres playing more up front.

I reckon there are a bunch of advantages here:

- Takes advantage of the strongest position, central midfield. Even Sissoko wouldn't be annoyed, as he's next in line in central midfield so he'll get tons of games, if only to give other players rests.

- Removes one of the weakest positions, the wingers. That'll save some money which can be spent elsewhere (as you do already have Leto and Pennant to play those times you actually do want to use wingers)

- Doesn't remove any attacks down the wing though, as Finnan and Riise are so good at getting forward from their positions.

- Gives Gerrard the license to attack at will, without worries about having to help out defensively. He can also roam from that position, unlike when he's rigidly stuck out on the right wing.

- Whilst even one of Torres, Kuyt and Gerrard might fail to get 20 goals in a season, between the three of them I think they'd score a lot of goals.

Of course, with no need to buy two wingers, you can actually buy another out and out striker. Whether that would be Defoe or Owen or Adriano or whoever, it can only help.
 
I thought Gerrard wasn't happy playing on the wing and wanted to play more central. Is he going to pout if Benitez sticks him out there?

hadareud said:
it's quite unbelievable. there were around 4000 posts in June alone. even without Mama's 3500 over the same period that's quite a lot
Click to expand...
Between the transfer market, the Gold Cup, U21 Euros, and the Copa America, we're putting up a lot of posts these days. Just wait until the U20 WC starts on Saturday.
 
Like I say, he's not really on the wing.

Ideally you'd play him from central midfield, but if Luis Garcia is going to Madrid in exchange for Torres, I don't see who else could play that position, or not well anyway. And then you're just removing a top central midfielder for Gerrard, and putting someone not as good in that supporting the striker role...I think it just hurts the team.

I think he'd play anywhere for Liverpool.
 
Hmmm i think the Torres and Kuyt roles are mixed up, Kuyt can play second striker and can also assist, and can go on the wing to, Although it depends if Torres has more upper body strength than Crouch, which isn't saying much.
 
Does anyone here ever rewatch matches? Just curious if you see any value in it for the sake of analysis, or if there are just too many matches on in general for you to spend any time on it.
 
I record all home Red Bulls matches even though I go to every game. I'll watch them either when I get home or the day after that. Does that count?
 
Well Torres isn't really an out and out striker, I think he'd be more effective supporting someone who is. And while Kuyt wasn't last year, pre-Liverpool his goalscoring record shows he was (unlike Torres).
 
Interesting point, although Kuyt likes to come from midfield and work his way up, I guess it could work a little bit like Barcelona, where they don't exactly have that one person to target up front.
 
Osorio said:
I record all home Red Bulls matches even though I go to every game. I'll watch them either when I get home or the day after that. Does that count?
Click to expand...
Yeah, that counts. I still have the three US matches from the last WC, but I still haven't gotten around to watching them. Those games were crappy except for the Italy one.
 
there's a few games that I'd like to watch again, but I never record stuff anymore.

My brother used to record the football coverage on the radio in the 80s and listen to it on his walkman (unrelated perhaps, but I wanted it mentioned)
 
I can't stand watching full matches again, regardless of what happens.

And if I'm going to watch a delayed match but accidentally find out the score beforehand, I don't bother watching. Even though there's like 85 minutes I have no idea about and have nothing to do with the scoreline, it's ruined for me. I just watch highlights if they're available in this case.
 
The reason why I ask is that in reading through all of the press/message board fodder on last night's beating courtesy of Argentina, there's a lot of debate on who was holding people onside, who was out of position, etc.... so I was considering watching it again. There's a lot that I can't pick up on first viewing because it happens quickly, I'm more concerned about what happened than how it happened (crap, we just let in another goal!), and I'm usually drinking when I watch the US play so my memory is fuzzy. Thus, I was trying to get my story straight on what actually happened. I'll probably just check out the goals and a couple other critical moments to see if my gut reaction was correct.
 
I wasn't paying attention to the defence, but I know the US had a problem with too many shots from distance. They did it even when in decent positions to move the attack forward into the box.

Shots outside the box have much, much lower chances of going in (which is why they often look spectacular when they do...they have to be spectacular to beat a decent goalkeeper from such a distance). I love it when teams take long shots against England or Blackburn, I'm so much less worried than when they play to try and get the ball into the box.

And, unless I'm mistaken, none of the US players are called Frank Lampard. So stop it!
 
According to Marca(yes, huge grain of salt) Madrid has already signed:

Metzelder(the only one that's practically confirmed)
Saviola
Drenthe
Toldo

... and is looking to sign:

Kaka
Dani Alves
Chivu
Robben

g0629.jpg
 
2007/08 Premier League Transfers (so far):

Arsenal (Total Spending: £4.6 Million)
(GK) Lukasz Fabianski - £2.6 Million
(Def) Havard Nordtveit - £2 Million

Birmingham City (Total Spending: £4.7 Million)
(Mid) Fabrice Muamba - £2 Million
(Def) Stuart Parnaby - Free Transfer
(Fwd) Garry O'Connor - £2.7 Million
(Mid) Olivier Kapo - £2 Million*

Bolton Wanderers (Total Spending: £1 Million)
(Def) Gerald Cid - Free Transfer
(Mid) Blerim Dzemaili - Free Transfer
(Fwd) Zoltan Harsanyi - Undisclosed
(Def) Jlloyd Samuel - Free Transfer
(Mid) Gavin McCan - £1 Million
(Mid) Danny Guthrie - Loan

Chelsea (Total Spending: £1.3 Million)
(Mid) Steve Sidwell - Free Transfer
(Def) Alex - £1
(Mid) Jacob Mellis - £1.3 Million
(Fwd) Claudio Pizarro - Free Transfer
(Def) Tal Ben Haim - Free Transfer

Derby County (Total Spending: £3.5 Million)
(Fwd) Robert Earnshaw - £3.5 Million

Everton (Total Spending: £500,000)
(Fwd) Lucas Jutkiewicz - £500,000

Fulham (Total Spending: £1 Million)
(Def) Aaron Hughes - £1 Million

Liverpool (Total Spending: £12.82 Million)
(Mid) Sebastian Leto - £1.85 Million
(Fwd) Andriy Voronin - Free Transfer
(Mid) Gary Mackay Steven - Undisclosed
(Mid) Lucas - £8 Million
(Fwd) Krisztian Nemeth - £1.35 Million
(Fwd) Andras Simon - £1.35 Million
(GK) Nikolay Mihaylov - Undisclosed
(Def) Mikel San Jose - £270,000

Manchester United (Total Spending: £47.5 Million)
(Mid) Owen Hargreaves - £17 Million
(Mid) Nani - £14 Million
(Mid) Anderson - £13 Million
(GK) Tomasz Kuszczak - £2.5 Million

Middlesbrough (Total Spending: £9 Million)
(Def) Jonathan Woodgate - £7 Million
(Fwd) Jeremie Aliadiere - £2 Million
(Fwd) Tuncay Sanli - Free Transfer

Newcastle United (Total Spending: £8 Million)
(Fwd) Mark Viduka - Free Transfer
(Mid) Joey Barton - £5.5 Million
(Def) David Rozehnal - £2.5 Million
(Def) Geremi - Free Transfer*
(Mid) Edmilson - Undisclosed*

Portsmouth (Total Spending: £7 Million)
(Def) Sylvain Distin - Free Transfer
(Def) Hermann Hreidarsson - Free Transfer
(Mid) Sulley Muntari - £7 Million
(Def) Martin Cranie - Free Transfer

Reading (Total Spending: £1.6 Million)
(Def) Andrew Bikey - £1 Million
(Mid) Khalifa Cisse - £600,000

Sunderland (Total Spending: £4.5 Million)
(Def) Greg Halford - £3.5 Million
(Def) Russell Anderson - £1 Million

Tottenham Hotspurs (Total Spending: £26.5 Million)
(Def) Gareth Bale - £10 Million
(Mid) Adel Taarabt - Undiclosed
(Mid) Yuri Berchiche - Undisclosed
(Fwd) Darren Bent - £16.5 Million
(Def) Younes Kaboul - £8.2 Million*

West Ham United (Total Spending: £7 Million)
(Mid) Scott Parker - £7 Million

Wigan Athletic (Total Spendng: £300,000)
(Def) Titus Bramble - Free Transfer
(Fwd) Antoine Sibierski - Free Transfer
(Def) Mario Melchiot - Free Transfer
(GK) Carlo Nash - £300,000

*Deal not done yet
 
BatiGOOOOOOL said:
According to Marca(yes, huge grain of salt) Madrid has already signed:

Metzelder(the only one that's practically confirmed)
Saviola
Drenthe
Toldo

... and is looking to sign:

Kaka
Dani Alves
Chivu
Robben

g0629.jpg
Click to expand...


Chelsea won't let Robben go, Chivu is most likely going to Barca, Kaka is definitely not gonna happen but I can see Dani Alves happening.
 
Lakitu said:
Chelsea won't let Robben go, Chivu is most likely going to Barca, Kaka is definitely not gonna happen but I can see Dani Alves happening.
Click to expand...

Not too sure about Robben. Chivu, I think he'll go to Barca - but I do think Barca is going to release Deco and Ronaldinho - and in that case, Ronaldinho probably will go to AC Milan - and to recoup the cost, they might sell Kaka to Real. Dani Alves - while Real might get him in coming weeks - I think he might go to Chelsea or other Prem club as well..
 
lachesis said:
Not too sure about Robben. Chivu, I think he'll go to Barca - but I do think Barca is going to release Deco and Ronaldinho - and in that case, Ronaldinho probably will go to AC Milan - and to recoup the cost, they might sell Kaka to Real. Dani Alves - while Real might get him in coming weeks - I think he might go to Chelsea or other Prem club as well..
Click to expand...

Joke post ?
 
Now that Anderson has been granted his work permit, we're that much closer to being able to work out the United team next year. If only they'd hurry up and buy a striker.

Anyway, my best guess so far would be:

-------------------Van der Sar--------------

Neville-----Ferdinand-----Vidic-------Evra

-----------Hargreaves----Carrick-----------

Ronaldo----Scholes----Anderson----Giggs

------------Rooney-----??????????----------
 
Mama Smurf said:
Anyway, my best guess so far would be:

-------------------Van der Sar--------------

Neville-----Ferdinand-----Vidic-------Evra

-----------Hargreaves----Carrick-----------

Ronaldo----Scholes----Anderson----Giggs

------------Rooney-----??????????----------
Click to expand...
Ahhh, the old 4-2-4-2. You're even worse than Karakand...
 
I know you say not to take you formations seriosly but....

Mama Smurf said:
Now that Anderson has been granted his work permit, we're that much closer to being able to work out the United team next year. If only they'd hurry up and buy a striker.

Anyway, my best guess so far would be:

-------------------Van der Sar--------------

Neville-----Ferdinand-----Vidic-------Evra

-----------Hargreaves----Carrick-----------

Ronaldo----Scholes----Anderson----Giggs

------------Rooney-----??????????----------
Click to expand...

*counts*

1, 2, 3, 4, ..... 11, 12, 13. O_O

That will be an unstoppable team.
 
....I forgot Nani.

In reality, United have two pretty clear teams forming:

Anyway, my best guess so far would be:

-------------------Van der Sar--------------

Neville-----Ferdinand-----Vidic-------Evra

Ronaldo----Scholes------Carrick----Giggs

--------------Rooney-----????????----------

--

Anyway, my best guess so far would be:

--------------------Foster--------------------

Brown------Pique--------Evans---Silvestre

Park----Hargreaves----Anderson----Nani

------------Saha----------Rossi-------------

Extras:

O'Shea
Solskjaer
Kuszczak
Dong

There are a couple of positions where I really don't know who will play, and I'm assuming Richardson, Smith and Heinze are going to leave. Plus, you know, if just one centre back is injured I'm sure Brown is ahead of Evans and Pique, but it's just to show that if the entire team were injured, there'd be a whole other entire teams that could take their place.
 
The Champions League starts mid-July with the first qualifying round. Not a lot of well known teams at this stage, but it will feature Rangers and Falch's favorite American.

Champions League first qualifying round draw
ZURICH June 29 (Reuters) - The draw for the first qualifying round of the Champions League made by UEFA at their Nyon headquarters on Friday.
First legs to be played July 17/18
Second legs to be played July 24/25
Besiktas (Turkey) v Sheriff (Moldova) or Ranger's (Andorra)
Hafnarfjordur (Iceland) or HB (Faroe Islands) v APOEL (Cyprus) or BATE (Belarus)
Kobenhavn (Denmark) v Beitar Jerusalem (Israel)
TNS (Wales) or Ventspils (Latvia) v Salzburg (Austria)
Crvena Zvezda (Hungarian) v Pobeda (FYR Macedonia) or Levadia (Estonia)
Olimpi (Georgia) or Astana (Kazakhstani) v Rosenborg (Norway)
Glasgow Rangers (Scotland) v Zeta (Montenegro) or Kaunas (Lithuania)
Tampere (Finland) or Murata (San Marino) v Levski (Bulgaria)
Dudelange (Luxembourg) or Zilina (Slovakia) v Slavia Prague (Czech Republic)
Debrecen (Hungaria) v Linfield (N.Ireland) or Elfsborg (Sweden)
Derry (Ireland) or Pyunik (Armenia) v Shakhtar (Ukraine)
Genk (Belgium) v Marsaxlokk (Malta) or Sarajevo (Bosnia)
Domzale (Slovenia) or Tirana (Albania) v Lenkoran (Azerbajian) or Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)
Click to expand...
 
I hope Richardson will be a regular starter next season
in Sunderland
:)

There are rumors that we will let Rossi and Pique go. I hope not since they can become one of the best in EPL. We don't need the money unless we are going to buy an expensive striker...
 
Article in Sports Illustrated Latino about Vela. Nice article. Here's the relevant part.

Arsenal purchased Vela's rights from Chivas de Guadalajara, even though he had yet to crack the first-team, after seeing him in action at the U-17 tournament in Peru, where Vela was awarded the Golden Boot -- he scored five goals in six games, including the opening score in the final against Brazil -- and led Mexico to its first World Cup title in any age group. A short time later, in London, the soccer gods were still smiling down on him.

"Being 16 years old, and training with [Thierry] Henry, [Cesc] Fàbregas, my heroes, it was like a dream," Vela says. "Henry gave me his signed jersey, and I still have the picture I took with him."

But because Vela has yet to play with the adult national team, and does not have a European Union passport, he could not get a work permit for the Premier League. So he was loaned out to Celta de Vigo, which was not able to use him in La Liga because it had too many foreign players on its roster.

Salamanca would have to do, and the dream of playing in one of the best two leagues in the world would have to wait. "I want to play in first division," says Vela. "I don't care if it's in Spain or at Arsenal."

As it turns out, Salamanca was the ideal place for Velita to mature. Being far removed from the Mexican media and the pressures of a first-division side allowed him to remain a teenager at heart while transitioning into adulthood.

For instance, in the land of the famous Iberian ham, he still preferred to eat at McDonald's or order pizza; sometimes he would stay up until the wee hours of the morning under the spell of the Winning Eleven soccer game for PlayStation; he'll even admit he was too lazy to study for his driver's license, forcing teammate Braulio to be his personal driver; by the same token, he has also struggled trying to learn English.

On the pitch, Vela benefited from being part of a club that has a knack for polishing skillful players and getting them ready for the big time -- such as Portuguese international Pauleta, who shined at the Helmántico before making the jump to Deportivo La Coruña in the late '90s.

"Your technique improves a lot here because you do exercises with the ball all day," Vela says.

Salamanca had secured its place in the second division by the time Vela reported to the Mexican youth-team camp and started thinking about his own immediate future. First off, the U-20 World Cup, which kicks off on June 30 in Canada, where the Tricolor faces two difficult matches in the first round.

"Portugal is one of the top powers," he says, "and the Africans [Gambia] are very quick." Furthermore, Vela and the rest of Mexico's so-called Golden Generation -- including the highly touted Giovanni dos Santos, who is also being brought along slowly by Barça -- face the added pressure of defending their 2005 title won in Peru.

"People get spoiled," he adds. "They see you win one thing, and now they want you to win it all. But it doesn't hurt to dream that we can bring home the Cup."

After Canada 2007, Vela will spend another season on loan -- this time, however, it's likely to be with a club in La Liga -- until his work permit is ready. Nevertheless, his name will continue to be associated with the Gunners, with whom he is under contract until 2010. "He doesn't belong to just any team, he belongs to Arsenal," says Salamanca coach Javi López, "and he's got to strive to take Henry's place. That's the way it is in soccer."

"He's good enough to fight any forward for his spot," says Sánchez, who is closely following Vela's career and will most likely call him up to the adult national team once the U-20 World Cup is over. "I hope Arsenal makes the right decision so his game continues to evolve."

Nobody knows if the day will come when Carlos Vela can put on a Gunners uniform and play in Emirates Stadium. But when he finally makes his first-division debut, he will be ready.
Click to expand...
 
hadareud said:
:lol

nobody poisoned their food. I think reality and myth have mixed in your head.

edit: http://youtube.com/watch?v=wI8bImAj2sM
Click to expand...
I was only messing. I'm not one of those crazy spurs fans who thinks that the team got poisoned. They were just unlucky to eat bad lasagne.

That video is hilarious :lol

Lasagne wo oh,
Lasagne wo oh,
We laughed ourselves to bits
When Tottenham got the shits
 
Mama Smurf said:
Now that Anderson has been granted his work permit, we're that much closer to being able to work out the United team next year. If only they'd hurry up and buy a striker.

Anyway, my best guess so far would be:

-------------------Van der Sar--------------

Neville-----Ferdinand-----Vidic-------Evra

-----------Hargreaves----Carrick-----------

Ronaldo----Scholes----Anderson----Giggs

------------Rooney-----??????????----------
Click to expand...
I take it that you didn't do too well in maths at school
 
Cornballer said:
This is great. Now I can have soothing conversations with Wenger about the current state of Arsenal. It's very relaxing.

Me: Are we going to sign someone soon?
Wenger: Yes, of course.
Click to expand...
I love the Bob Hoskins one too. There's nothing quite like Bob Hoskins swearing.

Great stuff!
 
Here's another lasagne related spurs chant.

When the spurs start to cry,
When they don’t qualify,
Blame lasagne.
When they think it's a treat,
But it's really dodgy meat,
Blame lasagne!

I found this one on the same site that I got the one above.

To the tune of the Kaiser Chiefs song I predict a riot
“I predict a diet”
Barnet fans to Kevin Pressman

Now doesnt anyone else think that this chat is perfect for frank lampard?
 
psycho_snake said:
To the tune of the Kaiser Chiefs song I predict a riot
“I predict a diet”
Barnet fans to Kevin Pressman
Click to expand...
It still makes me laugh that at some point they were checking bags for celery on the way into the stadium because too many fans were bringing it in and throwing it at Pressman.
 
The U20 World Cup kicks off tomorrow with four matches:
Poland v Brazil
Korea Republic v USA
Korea DPR v Panama
Argentina v Czech Republic

It'll be cool to see the US team in action - a bunch of young MLS'ers will be starting including Altidore, Adu, etc...

The Copa America is off today, but they'll be back tomorrow with a couple snoozers:
Bolivia v Uruguay
Venezuela v Peru
 
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