2005-06 Soccer Thread

[DaddyTorgo]

damm, things looking bleak for England without Rooney.

I'm fine with the US squad, although obviously I hope Ching doesn't see the field. Saw in the paper this morning that Frankie is completely out though with an ACL injury. Sucks for us. I'm not huge on Hejduk, but his loss will hamper Arena's plans no doubt.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69

With all due respect, what has Beasley shown at PSV this season to indicate that he should be in the first XI? Convey is probably the most in-form player of any on the US squad. How can you not play him?

Beasley is the better player overall. Convey may be more "in-form" but that won't vault him over Beasley.

My lineup:

Cherundolo - Onweyu - Bocanegra - Lewis
-------------------------------------
----O'Brien-----Reyna------Beasley
---------------Donovan
---------McBride-------Johnson

[Critch]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

damm, things looking bleak for England without Rooney.

It's now been announced that Steve McClaren will be the new England manager after the world cup, so things are looking bleak for England for World Cup 2010 too

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Critch

It's now been announced that Steve McClaren will be the new England manager after the world cup, so things are looking bleak for England for World Cup 2010 too

LOL

in my current FM career France won the WC in 2006 and then I took over in 2008 and led them to a 2nd consecutive WC win in 2010

[Desnudo]

I don't see how McClaren got the job, unless managing a team to a bottom table finish is considered successful. One cup run in a second-tier competition doesn't make a great manager.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Desnudo

I don't see how McClaren got the job, unless managing a team to a bottom table finish is considered successful. One cup run in a second-tier competition doesn't make a great manager.

Well, in all fairness, he led them to an actual cup (the Carling) two years ago, and to a UEFA spot last year (and a spot, I might add, that he's making the most of). He's not necessarily a world-beater, but he's not as bad as you think. He's brought a lot of talent into the squad, and done a good job of developing younger talents like Downing and Morrison. Remember, Middlebrough was at best a mid-table squad before McLaren came around, and that was in good years.

Plus, Boro have been completely tore up by injury the past two seasons. So let's not hire the Boro physio for England.

[Katon]

Originally Posted by Desnudo

I don't see how McClaren got the job, unless managing a team to a bottom table finish is considered successful. One cup run in a second-tier competition doesn't make a great manager.

The problem is that once Scolari turned down the job there really wasn't anyone significantly better in the running. McClaren's done a good job of bringing young players through, he's had a good cup run this year, and he's gotten Boro to annihilate a couple of significantly more talented teams in the league (3-0 against my lot ). That's as much as you can say for any of the other candidates.

[Mr. Wednesday]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

damm, things looking bleak for England without Rooney.

I'm fine with the US squad, although obviously I hope Ching doesn't see the field. Saw in the paper this morning that Frankie is completely out though with an ACL injury. Sucks for us. I'm not huge on Hejduk, but his loss will hamper Arena's plans no doubt.

Maybe. I didn't much care for what I saw from Hejduk against Jamaica, though... he looked like he had lost a step as he was beaten for speed more than once, and he should have been ejected for a lunging tackle in the first half. Of course, Albright didn't cover himself in glory playing on the left in that game, either.

[Critch]

McClaren seems to have been in line to be the next England manager since he was assistant manager at Man Utd. I guess the thinking is that being assistant manager at Man Utd is as close as any English manager has got to winning the EPL since Howard Wilkinson won it about 15 years ago.

[Crapshoot]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Well, in all fairness, he led them to an actual cup (the Carling) two years ago, and to a UEFA spot last year (and a spot, I might add, that he's making the most of). He's not necessarily a world-beater, but he's not as bad as you think. He's brought a lot of talent into the squad, and done a good job of developing younger talents like Downing and Morrison. Remember, Middlebrough was at best a mid-table squad before McLaren came around, and that was in good years.

Plus, Boro have been completely tore up by injury the past two seasons. So let's not hire the Boro physio for England.

Oh come on CR - he's spent god knows how much money (Maccarone, Yakubu, Mendiata, Ehigogu, Southgate ) - those are all over 6 million pound plus signings, on top of Job,Viduka, and lord knows who else. The net result - a team that's mediocre in the premiership, to say the least. The Carling Cup is pretty much the 3rd most important competition and we know the respect which the Arsenal's of the world treat it with. I do give him some credit for developing young talent, but he's been thoroughly mediocre overall.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Crapshoot

Oh come on CR - he's spent god knows how much money (Maccarone, Yakubu, Mendiata, Ehigogu, Southgate ) - those are all over 6 million pound plus signings, on top of Job,Viduka, and lord knows who else. The net result - a team that's mediocre in the premiership, to say the least. The Carling Cup is pretty much the 3rd most important competition and we know the respect which the Arsenal's of the world treat it with. I do give him some credit for developing young talent, but he's been thoroughly mediocre overall.

Well, I'm not saying he's the next Sven.

I'm just saying he's not as bad as he's made it to be. Is he the best choice? No. But the best choices don't seem to be interested in England's job.

[Dunleavy]

I'm just saying he's not as bad as he's made it to be. Is he the best choice? No.

i agree with that. and keep this in mind too, not the best overall but he was the best Englishman for the job

[TazFTW]

David Beckham, player/manager.

[Butter]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Beasley is the better player overall. Convey may be more "in-form" but that won't vault him over Beasley.

Yeah, and I remember last time when Jeff Agoos was the "better player" than several defenders on the bench. And that turned out well.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69

Yeah, and I remember last time when Jeff Agoos was the "better player" than several defenders on the bench. And that turned out well.

Now you are just being ridiculous. Beasley is the better overall player in all facets over Convey. You are the only person I know that would put Beasley on the bench. It's like saying McBride doesn't seem to have the best form lately for Fulham, so lets have Twellman take his spot.

[Butter]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

You are the only person I know that would put Beasley on the bench.

Probabaly true.

It's like saying McBride doesn't seem to have the best form lately for Fulham, so lets have Twellman take his spot.

But Twellman sucks though.

[ISiddiqui]

Twellman is more "in form" though from all his Friendlies goals.

[Critch]

Looks like there's going to be a shakeup of the EPL coverage next season, Setanta have announced that they've won the contract to cover about a third of the games in the UK, not sure how that will effect coverage over here.

If they do add EPL to the Setanta channel, along with the extended Scottish soccer coverage, it might finally be worth that $12 a month even if you don't like rugby.

[Crapshoot]

Originally Posted by Critch

Looks like there's going to be a shakeup of the EPL coverage next season, Setanta have announced that they've won the contract to cover about a third of the games in the UK, not sure how that will effect coverage over here.

If they do add EPL to the Setanta channel, along with the extended Scottish soccer coverage, it might finally be worth that $12 a month even if you don't like rugby.

Yeah - guess so. I like Fox Soccer, especially because they've been showing a lot of Liverpool games lately.

Now, all we need is for Man U to choke against Charlton, and manage a draw.

[Mac Howard]

Didn't take them long to get at McClaren

http://www.pressdisplay.com/pressdisplay/viewer.aspx

The story, in fact, is not particularly offensive but was there ever a newspaper front page more obviously designed to sell a few more crappy copies?

[Marc Vaughan]

The English press have a predictable 'build up, tear down' cycle - always have, unfortunately probably always will ...

As such they're incredibly destructive to various aspects of English society imho - not least sport where they exert as much pressure as possible to heighten unrealistic expectations (seriously if England win the World Cup it'll be as outsiders and an amazing achievement imho) and then should those expectations be failed they rail against the people involved as incompetant ...

(there's a reason why the england managers job has been described as a 'poison challice' fairly frequently ....)

[Desnudo]

Article on why Ching was selected. Basically disregarding form because a back-up target man to McBride is needed. I didn't realize McBride was 34.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...act/index.html

[Desnudo]

Fantastic line-up of back-to-back-to back games tomorrow on FSC: Newcastle v. Chelsea, Portsmouth v. Liverpool, and Arsenal v. Wigan. I'd prefer Tottenham or Man U instead of Chelsea, but I read that the Tottenham game isn't even on TV in England, which is silly.

[Crapshoot]

Only advice Des - don't check the net. All the games on the last day of the season kick off at the same time, so by the time the first game is done on FSC, all the results will be in.

[Critch]

Hope you didn't spring for the Man Utd v Charlton game on pay-per-view. They just put up all the half time scores from the other games, that would mess up the long day viewing

[Cringer]

Can a guy sneak in a little MLS talk into here?

Because of my re-entering into the FM/WSM world, and my kid playing soccer last fall for the first time, my soccer interest has hit an all-time high.

So high in fact that I actually started looking into the MLS for once. SOmething I did a few years ago and haven't since. I thought it might be cool to go see a game. So I go to the MLS site, expecting to look at the Dallas schedule since they would be the closest team to me (at 8 hours away by car).

Boy was I surprised to find out that San Jose moved to Houston. BEAUTIFUL!! I check the schedule, even better. Having to go up to Houston for personal matters anyways, I see there was a game the same weekend. So the wife and daughter and I went to see Houston play Salt Lake a few weeks ago. I freaking loved it. It was a million times more exciting then I ever expected, and I quickly adopted Houston as 'my team.'

I am pretty glad to see Ching get the nod over Twellman for the US WC team. Once I found out he played (and is the all time scoring leader) for Gonzaga University (in my home town) then he shot up as a favorite player for me I guess.

We are planning on going up to Houston again in a couple of weeks to watch them play Chicago. I now start finding myself pissed off the ESPN and such don't show highlights of MLS games. Houston beat FC Dallas last night 4-3, the first ever game between what are natural rivals now.

[Cringer]

Dola- I also find myself pissed Houston is not in WSM/FM.

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by Cringer

Can a guy sneak in a little MLS talk into here?

Because of my re-entering into the FM/WSM world, and my kid playing soccer last fall for the first time, my soccer interest has hit an all-time high.

So high in fact that I actually started looking into the MLS for once. SOmething I did a few years ago and haven't since. I thought it might be cool to go see a game. So I go to the MLS site, expecting to look at the Dallas schedule since they would be the closest team to me (at 8 hours away by car).

Boy was I surprised to find out that San Jose moved to Houston. BEAUTIFUL!! I check the schedule, even better. Having to go up to Houston for personal matters anyways, I see there was a game the same weekend. So the wife and daughter and I went to see Houston play Salt Lake a few weeks ago. I freaking loved it. It was a million times more exciting then I ever expected, and I quickly adopted Houston as 'my team.'

I am pretty glad to see Ching get the nod over Twellman for the US WC team. Once I found out he played (and is the all time scoring leader) for Gonzaga University (in my home town) then he shot up as a favorite player for me I guess.

We are planning on going up to Houston again in a couple of weeks to watch them play Chicago. I now start finding myself pissed off the ESPN and such don't show highlights of MLS games. Houston beat FC Dallas last night 4-3, the first ever game between what are natural rivals now.

If you have $20 to spare (really who does..) and want to see more, check out MLSLIVE.TV

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

If you have $20 to spare (really who does..) and want to see more, check out MLSLIVE.TV

Saw that today.

I will probably get it sometime over the next couple of weeks I think.

[SirFozzie]

Also if you have a DVR and Cable or Sattelite, look into the Direct Kick package

BTW, I'm over the moon with how the revs did. 4-0 shellacking of the Galaxy.

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

Also if you have a DVR and Cable or Sattelite, look into the Direct Kick package

BTW, I'm over the moon with how the revs did. 4-0 shellacking of the Galaxy.

I have DirecTV, so it is a possibility there.

I got home in time to see the second half of the Revs-Galaxy game. I have watched the ESPN 2 game the last two weeks now. It's a shame my tuning in is probably noticed in the ratings though. I think if more people went to watch games live the sport would grow, it certianly made an impression on my family.

Oh, and watch the ESPN 2 game in a couple weeks. It's the Houston Dynamo game. They play is Robertson Stadium (University of Houston), and it's not too bad for soccer. THey are working on getting a soccer stadium in 2-3 years I guess.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by Desnudo

Fantastic line-up of back-to-back-to back games tomorrow on FSC: Newcastle v. Chelsea, Portsmouth v. Liverpool, and Arsenal v. Wigan. I'd prefer Tottenham or Man U instead of Chelsea, but I read that the Tottenham game isn't even on TV in England, which is silly.

The Newcastle v. Chelsea match sure was fantastic... if you are a Magpies fan that is . Bramble does something right and we vault over Bolton for the Intertoto Cup! I just hope that some miracle gets worked out to allow Roeder to continue managing the club!

[cthomer5000]

Tottenham.... WTF?! Way to blow it in spectacular fashion, boys!

[moriarty]

Originally Posted by cthomer5000

Tottenham.... WTF?! Way to blow it in spectacular fashion, boys!

Well, it didn't help almost the entire team had food poisoning.

[Critch]

Originally Posted by moriarty

Well, it didn't help almost the entire team had food poisoning.

Police are investigating if they may have been intentionally poisoned. Get ready for Squirt-gate.

[JonInMiddleGA]

So as Arsenal moves to a new facility next year, what is the plan for Highbury?
Tearing it down? Renovating for some other use? Something else?

[Mac Howard]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

So as Arsenal moves to a new facility next year, what is the plan for Highbury?
Tearing it down? Renovating for some other use? Something else?

Article here:

hxxp://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,1769824,00.html

Sample:

And the pitch itself? When award-winning groundsman Paul Burgess rumbles off with his fleet of mowers and rollers to his new Eden, just 500 yards down the road, in will come landscape architect Christopher Bradley-Hole, a gold medal winner at Chelsea - the flower show, not the football club. His garden will be calm and well-proportioned he says, and will combine the feeling of European spaces with English tradition (Arsene Wenger might approve). It's not known yet whether ball games will be allowed.

and:

During the war, it was used as an air raid protection centre, but still took a heavy pounding. As did Henry Cooper in that fight. There's been cricket, and baseball, possibly a dead horse (under the North Bank), definitely a live squirrel.

and finally:

Roger Daltrey sings another song, a new one about Highbury, Henry gets his golden boot, fireworks are fired, red and white ticker tape streams down, and then it's time to go. The carnival continues outside but suddenly Highbury is an empty place, echoing with memories and waiting for the diggers to come.

England also tries to adorn sporting events with ageing rockers too

[Critch]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

So as Arsenal moves to a new facility next year, what is the plan for Highbury?
Tearing it down? Renovating for some other use? Something else?

Apartments based round the existing stands, with a common park where the pitch was. They were stuck with using the fronts of the stands as they are historically listed buildings so can't be demolished. Pretty interesting looking.

http://www.thestadium-highbury.com/stadium_main.htm

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Critch

http://www.thestadium-highbury.com/stadium_main.htm

Whoosh.

That's the sound of that website (which I had seen briefly earlier before asking my question here) going way over my head. I didn't look at it closely enough & thought those were just in the neighborhood instead of integrating the stadium.

Okay, seems like a cool enough use of the property I suppose. It would have seemed kinda sad to have the old building just disappear or something, not to mention wasteful.

[PilotMan]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

BTW, I'm over the moon with how the revs did. 4-0 shellacking of the Galaxy.

Funny. I thought of you when I saw that score yesterday.

[CraigSca]

Starting at about $600K US?! wow!

[Mac Howard]

Originally Posted by Critch

Apartments based round the existing stands, with a common park where the pitch was. They were stuck with using the fronts of the stands as they are historically listed buildings so can't be demolished. Pretty interesting looking.

http://www.thestadium-highbury.com/stadium_main.htm

I just get a blank page - or am I missing the irony here

[ISiddiqui]

Do you have Flash disabled?

[Mac Howard]

Possibly, I'm not sure. I suspect it's my combination of Firefox and ZoneAlarm that causes the problem but I did wonder if it could have been someone making an anti-Arsenal comment

[Dunleavy]

WOW, any fellow Arsenal fans here, WOW WOW WOW, what a final game. i went to the semi-final vs Villereal but i'm still jealous of every one of the 39k at the final game at highbury. what a day what a day, won't even try and describe it, i'll i have to say is...

thierry henry thierry henry thierry henry thierry henry thierry henry thierry henry and arsene wenger thierry henry thierry henry thierry henry thierry henry thierry henry thierry henry and arsene wenger thierry henry thierry henry thierry henry thierry henry thierry henry and arsene wenger

[Mac Howard]

Originally Posted by Dunleavy

WOW, any fellow Arsenal fans here, WOW WOW WOW, what a final game. i went to the semi-final vs Villereal but i'm still jealous of every one of the 39k at the final game at highbury. what a day what a day, won't even try and describe it, i'll i have to say is...

thierry henry thierry henry thierry henry thierry henry thierry henry thierry henry and arsene wenger thierry henry thierry henry thierry henry thierry henry thierry henry thierry henry and arsene wenger thierry henry thierry henry thierry henry thierry henry thierry henry and arsene wenger

Avoids the row that would occurred had Spurs won and Arsenal gone on to win the CL Final

[Chief Rum]

Those of you overseas won't get this, but for us American footy fans, I was wondering if anyone had seen the new Gatorade commercial for our WC team?

I think it's fantastic. Kinda gives you the "us against the world" theme that has been prevalent in other news areas for several years now. And the baseball tune--our "national pasttime"--as the music is perfect.

Go USA!

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

The Newcastle v. Chelsea match sure was fantastic... if you are a Magpies fan that is . Bramble does something right and we vault over Bolton for the Intertoto Cup! I just hope that some miracle gets worked out to allow Roeder to continue managing the club!

Actually I found the game tedious except for Bramble's brilliant goal. Although watching Robben flop around like a fish is fun, it becomes repetitive. With the level of talent they have, I find it embarrassing that Chelsea resorts to that kind of play, as well as bullying the ref. I think it reflects negatively on the manager.

The Arsenal-Wigan game was fantastic to watch although I only saw the first half. Just two teams that play fun soccer. The level of noise on the TV was unbelievable, hard to make out the announcer at times.

[Dunleavy]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

Those of you overseas won't get this, but for us American footy fans, I was wondering if anyone had seen the new Gatorade commercial for our WC team?

I think it's fantastic. Kinda gives you the "us against the world" theme that has been prevalent in other news areas for several years now. And the baseball tune--our "national pasttime"--as the music is perfect.

Go USA!

yes, i liked those commerical as has everyone else who's mentioned them. such a tough group, can we advance? a lot to depend on the first game.

also like the Nike Joga commerical. i like them all but for some reason (arsenal fan) i liked the Ronney one the best (good music and funny to see keeper match Rooney

[Dunleavy]

Originally Posted by Desnudo

The Arsenal-Wigan game was fantastic to watch although I only saw the first half. Just two teams that play fun soccer. The level of noise on the TV was unbelievable, hard to make out the announcer at times.

the second half was even better (especially if you understood the significance of the day)