Good God yes!!! And commemorative Mars Bars, and hopelessly raised expectations, and Page Three Girls posing in England shirts, and Ian Wright embarrassing himself as a pundit, and nobody giving a flying fuck about the Olympics. Bring it on!!!

demoño et. al.-- re: intensity-- whatever you pay attention to in great detail will become intense in your eyes. of course you have an amazing league, no question about that, so many great players, but this hilariously devoted dortmund fan might disagree with you about what he finds intense




haaa haaa haaa-- that's the face of the dortmund coach

also:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHZGSbaVYbE

ps- the MLS is utter shit

i'd love Martinez to do well at Liverpool but doubt he would. AVB looks most likely to me and i think he'd have a different experience than he had at chelsea. Apart from Gerrard and maybe Reina there aren't really any "born and bred" senior scousers in the liverpool team now. Carragher wont be around much longer and i cant see Gerrard causing AVB any problems.

someone at work said that Benitez was going back there!

@el Symbols

Of course there's a certain level of local subjectivity to a group of English guys praising the final game of the English Premier League. I don't think any of us are blind to that league's shortcomings, though: over-reliant on massive foreign investment; not the best when it comes to the quality of football on offer; and so on. I also don't doubt that other country's have equivalent passions and obsessions for their top league. As such, I'd never call the Prem the 'greatest' league in the world, primarily because (as I mentioned in a previous post) I've not seen every league in the world and, besides, I don't even know what 'great' necessarily means in terms of football (beyond maybe winning everything, and even that'd depend on the quality of opposition). So I much prefer to think of the Man City v QPR game as a good example of how intense football in general, can be, rather than as some kind of showcase for the Premier league exclusively. For me, the games I most enjoy aren't necessarily the ones with the best football but that have a sense of epic and often controversial drama. My favourite game from the last World Cup was the quarter final between Uruguay and Ghana (the one when Suarez handled the ball to save Uruguay, who then went on to knock Ghana out on penalties). It wasn't the best in terms of quality and was utterly unjust in terms of sporting ethics, but absolutely involving as drama. And I don't for a second doubt that similar things happen in the Bundesliga or the Dutch Eredivise or the French Ligue 1. But because I can't afford the necessary tv package, I just never get to see those games. I'd still say the Prem was a more exciting league than either Serie A or La Liga but that's as far as it goes for me.

The MLS fascinates me. From the little I've seen, the football is pretty poor but what interests me most is its ongoing struggle to make any kind of domestic impact. So it's the backstory that fascinates me there, far more than what goes on on the pitch.

YESSSSS!!!!!!


Feel a bit bad for Blackpool.They were probably the better team today but fuck it. It wasn't pretty but BACK IN THE PREM!!!!!!!



I can now properly enjoy the Champions' League Final. I want Chelsea to win solely because Terry will be suicidal that he wasn't a part of it if they do.

meh, who cares.

These two

meh, who cares.

hey demoño-- congrats on your team making it.

and thanks for the answer yeah, this is a general thing about this sport. and yes you weren't the one saying "thebestinthewroldrahrah" but you were the one actually making conversation about it hence i named you in my comment-- but just so we'd keep talking about that. the "agony and ecstasy" of sports is of course awesome.

the MLS is so much shit i think due to many things.

first is that w/ cable and the internet it's easy for people who like this game to watch international leagues where the game is GOOD. for example, i catch the bundesliga free w/ my internet, and starting next year i'll be able to follow the prem-- do i have time for the MLS? no. and people w/ geographic loyalties like mexican immigrants watch the mexican leagues-- that's all you see in channels like Univision for example (and mexican teams try to capitalize on the american market w/ teams like "chivas USA").

second for me is the draft system and the college shit-- teams don't develop young teams but rather "draft" from colleges. at that time they are too old. messi recruited at 14, forget about it. so some kids who are good just go abroad to train. you can't trust some random high school to breed stars.

third is the salary cap which is intended to create some sort of "fairness" but it hurts the rosters-- a lot of good american players are leaving the country. cherundolo and feilhaber play in germany, dempsey is doing great in england and so is tim howard, there are some players in mexico, and a bunch of other people who i don't know their names are playing abroad. even liverpool is owned by americans, yeah?

anyway time for pregame show!!!!! seeya man.

Wow. Hard to know what to say about that. Until the first goal I just thought Chelsea had killed the game and if anything was relieved when Muller finally scored cos it'd mean not having to endure more of the same in extra team. Bayern should've been way ahead by then, but for a bit of dodgy finishing and some pretty awesome defensive performances from Chelsea, especially Ashley Cole.

I dunno, the equaliser, the saved pen in extra time, Ribery going off, then the lottery of penalties. Well done to Chelsea but I have to feel bad for Bayern. The better side for me but, like Barcelona in the semis, misfiring in front of goal.

What a great two weeks for football.

fuck you chelsea and your 10-man defense.

well done though, mother fuckers. bayern fucking blew it.

I see how the internet issue could be a major problem, although plenty of smaller leagues in Europe and S'th America manage to thrive without being anywhere near the standards of La Liga, The Prem, the Bundesliga, Serie A, etc. A lot of the fanaticism you see in countries like Spain, Italy, Germany and England is fueled by their almost obsessive domestic news coverage. For reasons you're obviously better placed than I am to understand, there just doesn't seem to be much US media interest in the MLS.


Yeah, that's a major problem for sure. The draft/college set-up is totally opposite to Europe's academy system. By the time most of the promising players graduate in the US they'll have to compete with those that've been hothoused from their early teens by some of the biggest clubs in the world. America compensates by producing very 'solid' and 'professional' players but the nature of things here means that most will never get beyond journeyman status. I'd say the US system is far more ethical but football, except when it suits it, simply doesn't recognise ethics at all.


Salary caps are always brought up in England whenever some team or another goes bankrupt or news comes out about some other sky-high transfer. But ultimately UEFA is governed by the needs of the big teams so it never gets very far. They've tried to fudge a compromise with something they call Financial Fair Play but the big teams are already busy working out loopholes in that.

And yeah, Liverpool are owned by the American Fenway Sports Group, which also owns the Boston Red Sox. Also, the American owner of Man Utd also owns the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

At the end of the first half I really did think it'd be a travesty if Chelsea won playing like that. They became more open as the game went on, though, so I don't ultimately begrudge them their victory. Although it's definitely fair to say that they rode their luck. Bayern could've been at least two or three up going into the second half. Did Chelsea even have a single shot on target in the first half?

heynckes made a really fucked up move taking out little mueller. it would have been better to try to score a 2nd goal than to release the pressure on chelsea. complete fucking catastrophe. fucking heynckes, i hope he goes.

and gomez, gomez, fucking gomez was out of it again. he's been like that for a while. i don't know what's up with him this year. this has been a recent thing for him, last couple of months or so, fucking up like that. i think robben and ribery were afraid to give him the ball so they kicked from wherever they could.

drogba of course took MVP in my TV transmission (who chooses these things?) because of his goals, but i'd add also for literally taking out ribery, which was a great benefit to chelsea--and with mueller already gone the bayern attack was thoroughly cacked from then onwards. olic runs a lot but fuckit he can't dribble like the ferengi-faced frenchie. the thing though for me the MVP crown should have gone to cech who saved 2 penalties and didn't foul anyone in the area-- that freak is amazing.

anyway, blagh-- i have my hopes pinned on dortmund for next year, although kagawa is not renewing his contract, the fucker. rumors continue he's going to man u. still, dortmund has a great coach, he's turned that team around in 4 years from 13th place to champions twice in a row-- and they are double champions this year (bundesliga + dfb pokal).

ah, disappointment... i ended up drinking coffee after the game, to clear my head. coffee!!

^^el symbols:

I was a bit surprised when Mueller went off, too, but then you're 1-0 up in the final minutes of a Champions' League Final. I know I wouldn't want to be the one making tactical decisions in that kind of situation. Either way, it did still seem odd, I agree, and I suppose those are the decisions Heynckes is paid his fortune to get right. Either way, yeah, I keep hearing all these things about Gomez but in all (three) of the games I've seen him in he's been well below par. I obviously can't argue with his record, though (Messi's last three games have hardly done justice to his reputation either, so it's all pretty meaningless really - just two clearly very good footballers, slightly out of form when they could least afford to be). And yeah, I noticed Robben and Ribery making some fairly unlikely shots.

Ah, interesting, on the Ribery/Drogba foul. We must've seen it from different angles cos, while Ribery obviously wasn't faking it, I just couldn't equate what I saw Drogba do (which looked to me like little more than a tap on the ankle) with the damage done. I'm sure you're right and we just had a different tv angle in the uk but it did puzzle me for the rest of the game.

As for the Man of the Match/MVP, I personally would've given it to Ashley Cole. He was outstanding tonight. A real 'wow' performance for me. But Drogba was ultimately the difference maker. Add to that this may well be his last game for Chelsea so, while my head says Ashley, I suppose my heart says Didier. I definitely wouldn't have questioned it if Cech had got the award but like I said, I thought Ashley Cole was simply outstanding and it could be argued that Cech might've done better with Mueller's goal ... maybe. I'll be buggered if I know who decides who gets it, though.

cakes- your mom will close shop yes, ha ha. "born again virgin"? :P

demonyo- i hope gomez wakes up for the euro. really he is much better than this. he seems... tortured, distracted, out of it. i don't know.

ribery i understand cramped up as a result of the foul-- it wasn't the foul directly i think but falling or something. i mean in overtime a foul can fuck you up extra, with all the muscles on the edge of collapse.

on a lighter note:
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/soccer...181635766.html

and yeah, cole did a great job of containing both robben and mueller and anybody else who crossed his path-- until mueller's goal anyway. cole is brilliant, the fucker. i hate him a little less for that reason.

--

and now for the euro (copypasta):

Provisional Germany squad
Goalkeepers: Manuel Neuer (FC Bayern München), Tim Wiese (SV Werder Bremen), Marc-André ter Stegen (VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach), Ron-Robert Zieler (Hannover 96).
Defenders: Holger Badstuber (FC Bayern München), Jérôme Boateng (FC Bayern München), Benedikt Höwedes (FC Schalke 04), Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund), Marcel Schmelzer (Borussia Dortmund), Philipp Lahm (FC Bayern München), Per Mertesacker (Arsenal FC).
Midfielders: Lars Bender (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Sven Bender (Borussia Dortmund), Toni Kroos (FC Bayern München), Thomas Müller (FC Bayern München), Mesut Özil (Real Madrid CF), Sami Khedira (Real Madrid CF), Marco Reus (VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach), André Schürrle (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Bastian Schweinsteiger (FC Bayern München), Julian Draxler (FC Schalke 04), Mario Götze (Borussia Dortmund), İlkay Gündoğan (Borussia Dortmund), Lukas Podolski (1. FC Köln).
Forwards: Cacau (VfB Stuttgart), Miroslav Klose (S.S. Lazio), Mario Gomez (FC Bayern München).

that team looks fucking great. their booger-eater armpit-sniffer coach better not fuck up!

Current Paddy Power betting odds for Euro 2012:

Spain 5/2
Germany 10/3
Holland 7/1
England 10/1
France 12/1
Italy 14/1
Portugal 18/1
Russia 20/1
Croatia 40/1
Ukraine 40/1
Poland 50/1
Czech Republic 50/1
Sweden 66/1
Greece 80/1
Ireland 80/1
Denmark 100/1


Spain are still favourites but they've been in shakey form of late so Germany are my favourites. I don't know enough about the Holland team to judge their chances but Germany tend to do well even with an average side, and that squad looks far better than average. I still can't look at the England squad as being potential finalists, never mind trophy winners. Semis at best, for me (and it's by no means a given that we'll even get past the group stage). The teams I'm most curious about (without necessarily thinking they'll win) are post-Domenech France and what looks like a more attack-minded Italy.

EDIT: Glad to see the English media giving both barrels to John Terry for his participation in Chelsea's post match celebration, in his kit, and shin pads, ffs!!! He was suspended. He didn't participate. The man has no class.

TRIVIA EDIT: FA Cup, Premier League, Serie A, Coppa Italia, Champions League, all won with Italian managers this year. Almost makes me wish Capello had stayed at England ... almost.

We'll be lucky to get out of the group stage! If we do we'll probably have to beat spain and italy. And then germany or holland in the final! We've got no chance!
Still i tend to enjoy tournaments more when we're not involved!

For me gemany will win. I agree about spain

I agree, France will obviously be tough and I also think we'll struggle against Sweden. Saying that, Germany's group looks super tough.

how does the seeding work for the groups? How did germany and netherlands get drawn together? Group A has russia poland greece and czech republic and Group B has the dutch the germans and portugal!

maybe i'm underestimating the russians and the czechs... but i thought it was supposed to seperate the "big teams"

saying that there are so many good teams this year
apart from the 2 hosts the irish and greece anyone could have a good run

I literally have no idea why France are so long at 12-1. This is the worst England team in a long time, I can only guess theyre banking on Woy making the team a tactically defensive, aesthetically offensive 10-man bodyguard entourage for Joe Hart and just sneaking by everyone. Well, it worked for Greece.

if we play like chelsea played in the champions league semi and final and win the thing i wouldn't mind

we haven't got good enough players to take teams on. Roy plays a very defensive game so i can see us playing that way

It is unusually competitive this year and yeah, I just tried to read UEFA's seeding policy for the Euros and couldn't make any sense of it. It looks like the only teams kept apart are the two host nations, Poland and Ukraine and current champions Spain. It definitely seem a bit silly that Holland and Germany are in the same group. Surely the four highest ranking European sides (right now Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal) should be separated before anything else. I've never agreed with host nations being seeded. They already have home advantage.

FA unveils England's offiicial Euro 2012 strip.

Mueller is saying he picked up an injury, which still doesn't excuse Heynckes' decision to replace him with a central defender at only 1-0 up. There was a really interesting interview with one of the Bayern backroom staff on the radio today, basically saying the fear in the team of possibly losing made them increasingly paranoid as the game went on and in some cases almost from the beginning. He doesn't mention names but I imagine he means Gomez. There was an interview with (I think) Lampard where he says he sensed a growing sense of fear and nervousness in the Bayern team pretty much from when Muller scored. Basically that they panicked once they took the lead.

That game will never be remembered as a great display of football, but as a battle of wills and mental strength it has to be up there as one of the most fascinating, at least. It's a game that the more I think about it, the more amazing it becomes.

bayern-holland playing in 5 minutes!!!! i wonder who robben is gonna play for, ha ha.
--
ps he's on the dutch bench
--
demonyo, didn't now about mueller! oy.
and yeah gomez choked! robben too a little i think. they were already on a losing streak on tough macthes (dortmund, leverkusen<--google that game).
--
k- game on!

Missed the Bayern-Holland game. Hard to see how any of the Bayern players would be motivated for that. I can only imagine it was a fairly lacklustre run-through of a game. It reminds me of an England friendly that was scheduled for right after the last world cup. The last thing England fans needed after such an appalling world cup was to watch them play a friendly. The Bayern players should've just been left to cry into their pint glasses until called for their Euro duties. Poor bastards.

it wasn't violently disputed but it was fun and animated, finished 3-2 for bayern. gomez (finally) scored after a great setup by ribery. so did kroos (great kick from afar) and this guy petersen i've never seen before. also had the chance to see holland, goals by huntelaar and this new guy narsingh, his debut playing for holland-- you might see him play next month, he definitely earned his place by outrunning all defenders and getting the ball past the goalkeeper..

the game was payback by holland for a lesion on robben while prepping for the last world cup-- bayern gets to pocket the money (stadium was full). yes, it was a pain i suppose after the weekend's defeat but as far as i could tell they all acted like professionals and did their job well, even managed to win, sad faces and all-- a futile gesture maybe but nevertheless a good show. there was a leprechaun-sounding commentator who said he thought holland would win that group but then he had to STFU.

also, it was a preview of sorts for the group A of the euros, as the german team is mostly a bayern/dortmund thing.

check out the excerpts:

http://www.soccer-blogger.com/2012/0...s-score-video/

The irony of Robben playing for Holland is that he's now lost two games in a row against teams he's played for. The poor fucker must feel cursed.

Ah well, at least I've finally seen Gomez score (thanks for the link), and that opening goal by Kroos really was something a bit special. I know it's all about if and buts but it can't be denied how different Saturday might've been with that kind of finishing. But I suppose the really great teams are defined by being able to do it when they most need to.

haaa haaaa haaa.

i was just reading this the other day

http://elcomercio.pe/deportes/141673...es-que-disputo

translated headline:
"jinxed? robben added his fourth consecutive final without celebrating"

forget about the list of defeats you already know (2009 against inter, world cup final, dfb-pokal) and look at the photo they posted. hilarious!

Hahaha, classic photo.

You might want to embrace your inner geek for a bit, by having a look at this website. Too nerdy for words but life's too short to worry about that kind of thing ...

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2012/05/...-on-penalties/

Seriously, it's a great site if you're into the more tactical side of things and certainly goes into more detail and is better informed than most of the regular newspapers, and pretty much free of their usual hyperbole.

If you're (understandably) not into wading through the whole thing, here's its rather interesting conclusion about the final:

Despite losing the tie, Bayern won the tactical battle. The fluidity of their two deep midfielders meant they kept on creating good chances, while Muller’s positioning was a continual problem and something Chelsea never responded to. Roberto Di Matteo’s side defended much better against Barcelona (even if Pep Guardiola’s side also created chances), which was probably because they played with an extra holding midfielder in that match, rather than because of the selection problems in defence tonight.

Indeed, Chelsea’s last-ditch defending was superb – David Luiz and Gary Cahill played remarkably well considering both were injury doubts, while Ashley Cole’s ability to spot danger and react to it quickly was once again highly impressive. Petr Cech also starred in goal, and while Mikel couldn’t cover the entire space in front of the defence, he did his job manfully.

Just as in the Europa League final, the FA Cup final and the German Cup final, the more reactive side emerged victorious.

The French side for Euro (the coach named 27 players)

Keepers : Hugo Lloris (Lyon - he'll probably play all games, and is the team captain); backups : Steve Mandanda (Marseille), Cédric Carrasso (Bordeaux)
Central defenders : Philippe Mexès (Milan), Adel Rami (Valencia - probably exhausted, will also probably surge forward for no reason, causing panic among the French pundits); both are capable of planting a header on a corner kick; backups : Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal), Younes Kaboul (Tottenham - currently injuried), Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa (first call up - from French surprise champions Montpellier)
Leftbacks : Patrice Evra, Gaël Clichy (both Manchester, different teams); Evra will probably be preferred to Clichy who got named in the team after Abidal's health took him to the hospital
Rightbacks : Matthieu Debuchy (former champions Lille - I do like him, he never gives up), Anthony Réveillère (Lyon - older, but not arthritic)
Main defensive midfielders : Yann M'Vila (Rennes - his form's on the wane), Yohan Cabaye (former champion with Lille, instant hit at Newcastle)
Other defensive midfielders : Alou Diarra (Marseille - I don't see why he's there, but Laurent Blanc likes him), Blaise Matuidi (PSG - no impression at all)
Midfielders : Samir Nasri (Man City champ' - can't be trusted on the whole tournament), Franck Ribéry (Bayern ace - paralysed in a blue shirt)
Other midfielders : Marvin Martin (Sochaux, a team that struggled; former ace assister - will probably be used as a sub for 15 minutes), Hatem Ben Arfa (Newcastle - will he be given his chance ahead of someone else, someone like...), Florent Malouda (Chelsea underused - unimpressive for France), Mathieu Valbuena (Marseille diminutive winger - good but a bit dumb), Michel Platini (Nancy - 1978)
Forwards : Karim Benzéma (Real Madrid - will start all games), Olivier Giroud (French league top scorer for champions Montpellier - impressed and looked comfortable in a blue shirt; alas uneffective for his club's final game), Loïc Rémy (Marseille speedy winger scorer threat - if he ain't injuried), Jérémy Ménez (PSG winger - too many ups and downs)

There's a lack of depth in the team, and senior players do not enjoy themselves, as they're mostly remembered for their bus rebellion in South Africa.
If they're not dragging the team down, they sure don't lift it up.

Sparks from Debuchy, Benzéma, Ben Arfa, Cabaye and Giroud would be appreciated.

They will surely play more than 3 games, but I'd be surprised if they play the semis.

Ben Arfa has been fantastic since starting for Newcastle and definitely deserves to be picked ahead of Malouda, a player I used to like a lot but who seems to have lost interest this past couple of seasons. I'd say France have about the same chance as England, overall: quarterfinals or semis at best.

Out of interest, have you seen anything of Joe Cole at Lille? West Ham are apparently looking at trying to sign him back. He's a legend there but seems to have struggled everywhere he's been to since. Just wondering how he did at Lille last season.

So bloody Man Utd have been sniffing around at getting Baines from Everton. Let's just say I'm non too happy about it. Especially at their stupid offer of 15 mil. He's worth a hell of a lot more than that.

Great link btw!

Baines would be ideal for Man U but I agree, 15m is ridiculously low. Especially as he'd likely get them a few goals, too. Moyes should try and hold on to him at least until Ashley Cole runs out of steam and Chelsea come, will be willing to spend a fortune to get him.

you must spread some reputation around etc...

that is a wicked site.
will probably earn me a p45!

but it basically says the same as was said here earlier. If Bayern had finished their chances they would have hammered Chelsea. Ashley Cole played really well, and chelsea defended well

i think you'd do really well to sign joe cole. if he's given the role he's had at Lille in the centre (he played there at the end of his chelsea career and looked really really good) he'll do pretty well.

but would he be welcomed back by the fans?

He's worshipped by the fans. He's one of the few to go with no ill-feelings at all. Always got a cheer from West Ham whenever he played against them for Chelsea and Liverpool. The bigger problem for me would be if he's in any way suited to Allardyce's not exactly flair-friendly style.