Aww yeah

Looks like Messi might be fit for the second leg.

it's just one guy, i found out, who writes elswewhere. which is why he sometimes writes a ton and then nothing.

i'm still waiting for wednesday's analysis! i just don't think it will happen until the next round of matches.

Your wait is over ...

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2013/04/...-to-take-them/

thanks man! that was a good read. i had been fiending....

---

ps-- SUAREZ!!

http://www.whoateallthepies.tv/video...comment-page-1

one has to laugh...

We'll miss him when he's gone.

And with friends like this, who needs enemies?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2...paolo-di-canio

gone where??? are you sure??

(say bayern... say bayern... )

Right I saw the Suarez punch last week and for fear of sounding like a broken record I kept quiet. Seeing as you've decided to drag from the sewers where it was meant to stay I'll say this-once a twat, always a twat.

EDIT-TO whatshisname, Suarez said at a press conference last week that he'd happily hear offers from other teams. Later it was claimed the translator mis-quoted him. How shit of a translator would you have to be to get that one wrong?

but a HILARIOUS one. admit it!

Not now, not for certain, but eventually. Liverpool won't qualify for the CL this season and there's no guarantee they will next season. I'm sure a lot of bigger clubs are looking at him and we know he's willing to listen to them.

Interesting piece about Thomas Muller here

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/b...er?INTCMP=SRCH

hey thanks for that, an awesome read! especially timely for me today considering i got up early to watch bayern-frankfurt in what could be bayern's crowning match for the season.... not sure mueller will play today (i'd save him for next week) but anyway... excellent article, thanks for the link

ps bayern/frankfurt match starts in 20'

I loved the description of Andy Carroll leaping to score a header, 'mane flowing, nostrils flared, like a horse hurled from a speeding helicopter.' Great article, although he needs to find a better term to describe what Muller does than 'space investigator'. It makes him sound like a sf detective.

oh, man, bayern-frankfurt had an intense second half!

first half bayern should have pulled ahead but didn't (and alaba missed a penalty). they did at the beginning of the 2nd half though, and then frankfurt gave it all to catch... neuer had a great save plus he had to work hard in general. bayern had to play counterattack.

and yeah, BAYERN WINS THE BUNDESLIGA. with 75 points and a 66 goal difference, far ahead of dortmund with 55 pts and +31, and six dates to go-- bayern can't be touched now.


damn, this was a fine game to watch. schwinsteiger scored a very fine goal.

look:

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

a closeup;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RQB7v17IPg


ps
"space investigator" would make an awesome badge! scifi detectives rule!

Some big results in the Prem today, especially with Stoke losing to Villa, putting them right in the mire. QPR and Reading are effectively gone but I wouldn't mind if either Stoke or Wigan join them. Shame Reading are going cos ideal for me would be QPR, Stoke and Wigan all getting the drop.




Wow. Even better than Welbeck's goal last year against Sweden.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKjhh7V9Y3w

So Bayern have won the Bundesliga with a record six games still to go and Toni Kroos is the midfielder of the future, apparently.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/b...oos-mesut-ozil

kroos is great, he had a fantastic early season scoring from outside the area (inside as well). now he seems to have slowed down in that front.

not sure about these eras that the writer mentions but i get what he says about kroos's well-rounded excellence (a rare thing). he's a bit of the anti-specialist, although i'll say he's probably the best shooter (kinda like pirlo).

however, he's not magic--- last time vs. juve, bayern did better without him than with him. while he was on, bayern couldn't get their stuff together. yes, that may be a fluke, but it also points at the fact that the system counts for a lot and mueller was great in that position as well.

the only thing i hope is that with all the attention on the bundesliga the oligarchs don't start coming down like vultures & take these great players away to the prem. :(

Oligarchs or not, you might find some points made in this article interesting.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...478334158.html

Oligarchs or not, you might find this article interesting.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...478334158.html

i clicked that link and read earlier and i sorta agree. those sorts of asymmetries are bound to happen in certain systems (have you ever played civilization? one empire always grows big. i think they follow a power law distribution.)

but even while power laws distibutions happen more often than we realize (not all natural distributions are bell curves), you'll recognize from the same article that there's still more diversity overall in the bundesliga as opposed to the other major european leagues (5 champions vs 4, 3, 3)

the question is one of sustaining a rivalry at the top.

i get that a purchasing oligarch can bring a huge influx of cash to a team (e.g., man city, chelsea) that would otherwise be stuck in the mud. but i still don't like it, ha ha ha. HORRIBLE FOR FANS!

there's gotta be a better way to introduce chaos into the system than plantation owners with petro/narco/dollars.

Kuba Is Back!!!

I tend to agree. So long as it's a straight fight between shared ownership and an oligarch, even with the shortcomings of the kind of model the Bundesliga has, it's the one I'd go for. I think that article was just trying to address some of the more OTT claims about German football being made in the media right now.

Loving Dortmund v Malaga.

i'm not. these fuckers are giving me stomach pains. currently losing!

of course i understand for an objective observer it's a fun game....

hummels is "recovered" but still benched. agggghhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

frustrating.... still frustrating....

jeezus fucking christ

Same here.

Hooooooooly Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!!!!!

Call An Ambulance!!!

What the hell is going on tonight?

this was just fucking insaaaaaaaane!!!!!!!

santana, i take it all back!!!

Wow!!!!

Unbelievable

id like to comment but im still speechless

I'd have paid to have seen the crowd after the third dortmund goal.

It'll go up there as one of the greats, surely. That was just epic.

(But was Dortmund's winner offside?)

i gave myself a headache screaming. i had given up already, honestly. earlier when malaga pulled ahead i had thought that dortmund could score 4 goals if it wanted, but after so many lost opportunities and the 2nd malaga goal, after sahin+ schieber changed nothing for dortmund, i threw the towel-- i was just trying to get used to the idea that dortmund was out. we kept the game on but i started looking at the web and do other shit... i couldn't look anymore (except with the corner of my eye, well, fuck).

in truth dortmund could have scored 5 or 6 goals, with so many chances.

up to the last few minutes, i was ready to say: malaga deserved it, they played better, because they defended well, their GK was a hero, and their attacks, while fewer, were more effective.

then hummels comes in and dortmund wins.

here's my suggestion for the next match: get rid of santana on defense. he sucks there. but don't get rid of santana. put that lumbering beast up at front instead. and subotic.

damn. dortund's defense makes the best attackers.

PS- did you notice how subotic's play for the tie was from a hummels pass? did you notice? did you notice? ah, hummels! he's a fucking genius. he's dortmund's pirlo.

I did see Hummel's pass. I'm starting to understand the hype now. He was the stand out for both sides, I thought. Although Dortmund's goalie definitely saved them a couple of times earlier on. Joachim could've had a hat trick.

pirlo sits in front of a 3-man defense, hummels is one of 4 defenders, but they do a lot of the same when you notice. santana was a fucking dunce when it came to clear the balls. hummels on the other hand is a space detective (ha ha ha).

btw, 2 offside goals in one match! now with cooler heads-- quite generous from the refs.

it makes me wonder about instant replay. i know human error is part of the game but teams are getting straight up cheated!

Human error doesn't have to be part of the game.

Unfortunately, instant replay only creates more controversy. Ask the NFL.

hey! i havent seen you post in a million years! welcome back.

--

anyway, i gotta agree with this, in part. cuz human error will occur. but i'm more willing to live with "tragic mistakes" than to turn this sport into a stop-and-go hopscotch, like american football with its teams of lawyers conferring at every step so that you never know what's going on until they eventually declare it. i'd simply stop watching.

I still support the idea of goal line technology but only to confirm whether the ball has crossed the line or not. Anything else, like some of the more supposedly clear cut refs 'mistakes' regarding things like fouls, hand balls and offside are more interpretive and many of them are still debated by experts who still can't come to a final right or wrong answer, even with the help of replays from every possible angle. Goalline technology would work because it's just a simple 'yes/no' decision, with no grey areas at all.