Soccer Thread

[antelope19]

Yes, the commercials get to be a bit much.  But I will say that watching the cowboys/ravens game and then the redskins/eagles games on consecutive nights at christmas parties with about 30-40 people in the room, all going NUTS the entire time was alot of fun.  That'll never happen watching futbol in the states.  At least not with my group of friends. 

[Declan]

Yes, the commercials get to be a bit much.  But I will say that watching the cowboys/ravens game and then the redskins/eagles games on consecutive nights at christmas parties with about 30-40 people in the room, all going NUTS the entire time was alot of fun.  That'll never happen watching futbol in the states.  At least not with my group of friends. 

exactly...

thats the best part about sports... going nuts when your team is playing  8-)

you should have seen me when Germany beat Turkey in the Euro semi final

[jedifunk]

yeah, or me whenever milan is on... i think i may have caused my dog to pee itself yesterday when pato scored the third goal!  he looked as if he had just gotten into the garbage... so scared.

as for ashley young... i hope he doesn't go to madrid.  thats one thing in all sports that bothers me... there is absolutely no team loyalty anymore.... just look @ the ronaldo saga this year...  united had just won the double, and he's thinking about moving on?  why?  you are the best player on the best team in the world... where could you go that is better?

anyhoo, i hope that villa can hold onto their youngsters as long as possible to make a real run at the big 4.

[Declan]

Liverpool   18   39
Chelsea   17   37
Aston Villa   18   34
Man Utd   16   32
Arsenal   18   31
Hull City   18   27
Everton   17   25
Fulham   17   24

[jedifunk]

yep, lets hope they can continue to play this well...  they will most definitely need at least one win, and a couple draws against the big 4 to maintain their position (as well as continuing to beat those teams below them).

but its fully possible. 

i also like the way that serie a is shaping up.  even though i think milan is getting close to being out of the race for the scudetto, the season has been really good.  napoli looks to be the 4th best side, with fiorentina & genoa also looking like for europe next season.

i think roma is done... perhaps they can still make 5th or 6th spot and find a place in europe, but even that will be tough i think.  they just haven't looked good all year in the league (although they keep advancing in the champs league)

[Declan]

u must be pissed about inter  :evil:


villa visits acorns

http://www.avfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~1497220,00.html

and on the main villa page... laursen talks about maldini being the best player he has played with


Edit...

I'm so pumped for this boxing day match it's ridiculous

[Declan]

I'm preparing for battle 

[jedifunk]

sweet... i'm ready as well

[Declan]

so once arsenal scored that first goal after villa had like 3 shots go nearly in... it was hard to watch....

then they scored a 2nd at the beginning of the 2nd half...  where's laursen and cuellar when you need them ....

but you can never doubt villa... they have been known this season to come back from losing.... scoring 90th minute goals (94th min ashley young against everton devastated the everton fans)

sure enought... gareth barry scores a penalty and i'm glad he took it... last match against aresenal, ashely young took it and almeda stopped it.


young should have been awarded a penalty in the 63rd min... which didnt happen for some reason.. but right after, agbonglahor was tackled and the ref awarded the penalty.

but wow.... people doubt Zat "Knightmare" but scoring in the 90th minute to tie made villa park go nuts...

villa should have won, but at least they didnt lose and maintained their top 4 spot.

good game

[Declan]

what are you thinkin about Kaka jedi?

[jedifunk]

oh man... lets not even talk about it.  i'm too stressed.

seriously though... here's what i posted on a footy forum i frequent

i also would like to see kaka stay... and my thought is, what does he gain from going to man city? money? he's got plenty already, and if his word is to be believed, he's happy with what he's got.

is it a better squad? no... outside the other big clubs, why would you move away from milan? we've got the history, the players, the coaches, the trophies, etc. milan is one of the best clubs in the world... this is where i don't understand, why would you leave? players dream of playing for the big clubs, dream of playing for milan. going to city would be a HUGE step down.

now, if it does happen... (please no)..... i hope we bring gourcuff back and play him, as he's been amazing this season.

and i think we would be hurt on the field with dinho as the centerpiece... we should be building around pato & kaka IMO

[Declan]

yeah, its exactly what you were saying about loyalty in this day in age...

thats a huge wack of money for him... milan could benefit from that, but i would rather seem him stay...

Its either Kaka and dhino or Kaka and bhino now

[Declan]

uhh aston villa now ahead of chelsea...

whats going on with liverpool?
do they need torres and gerrard to be successful?  Obviously they have a solid defense and a great goal keeper.

So milan, I wish the Galaxy would let Beckham stay there... he just doesnt fit in the MLS.

and how about the 2-0 victory Spain>England....

wtf mate.... but i guess on the international level, they are way more trained.


BTW jedi, what football forum do you attend again? link me up

[jedifunk]

so, lets see...  well, kaka stayed!  finally a sports player NOT taking the money, and following his heart (now lets see how long that lasts).

villa... well, i say they finish 2nd or 3rd... chelski are done and in turmoil, arsenal make make a challenge but it may be too little too late.  i believe villa are also still in the running for the uefa cup, so i could see them actually playing milan in the final.

as for milan, well, we've got the BIG derby this weekend... biggest match in the world!  and kaka is injured, which doesn't bode well... but i keep my hopes up.  if we win, we'll be 5 pts adrift of inter.

now, the internationals... well, i watched italy v brazil, which was entertaining.  but italy didn't look too good.  and the 2nd goal (robinho) was rubbish as pirlo gave that shit away.  i also watched france v argentina, which was a really fun match to watch... aguero and messi are just incredible!  messi just schooled those fools on his goal.  i also saw some of the england v spain match... its funny, england have so many class players, but they suck when they play together.  although i will say that spain is definitely the best team in the world right now, so that didn't help.

i also watched usa v mexico last night... kinda rough to watch after watching all those great matches i just mentioned.  neither of these teams is anywhere near the class of those mentioned above.  it was apparent.  and although the US played really well, they just can't compete with the bigger nations.  that said, we have a very good squad and are certain to make the world cup now that we've beaten mexico again.  and i really like our squad... they showed a stat that the average age of our squad was 25.. thats awesome, we're young and hungry, and talented.  i'd say that the quarterfinals of the WC are not out of the question.  as for the match, it was kinda slow... and alot of that had to do with the conditions, but still, you can tell that the skill and pace are below what the better nations have.

as for beckham, he's played well for milan, but i hope we don't keep him.  its going to cost WAY more than he's worth to keep him, and we are already stacked in midfield... where we need players is in defense, goal and striker.  we've already got pirlo & dinho for free kicks and we don't have any tall CFs to take advantage of his crosses.  at his age, he is definitely suited to the italian game, where its a bit slower and way more tactical than any of the other top leagues.  that said, he isn't an impact player who is really worth all this trouble.  especially when you think about next season... we'll surely take gourcuff back from bordeaux (he looked great for france yesterday BTW), and gattuso will be healthy... we'll be full in midfield... pirlo, gattuso, flamini, seedorf, gourcuff, ambrosini, videuz, and several promising youngsters who need to start playing with the senior team... there just isnt room for him.

so there you go, i've written another novel....

as for where i spend my time talking futbol... i frequent a forum that is mostly about the video game PES, but there is lots of great futbol talk as well... pesgaming.com

[MiamiPhish]

are you in the school of PES > FIFA?