Fútbol, Le Foot, Voetbal, ποδόσφαιρο

[Amo]

Yellow Submarine come back from behind to beat Real Valladolid 2-1.

Cani with an absolute cracker.

Edited August 25, 2013 by Amarillo

[blue_n_white99]

A new way to see Barcelona:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1751858-barcelona-stars-neymar-messi-and-iniesta-star-in-new-qatar-airways-ad

[old darwen blue]

A new way to see Barcelona:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1751858-barcelona-stars-neymar-messi-and-iniesta-star-in-new-qatar-airways-ad

With Gary Lineker as a taxi driver!

[alexanders]

Martino (new coach) and Neymar Lift their first throphy for Barca after they beat Atletico Madrid on AGG 1-1 after Atletico fail to score at Nou Camp.

Leo Messi missed a pen. Atletico got 2 reads. Felipe Luis and Arda Turan who Was at the bench at the time.

[blue_n_white99]

With Gary Lineker as a taxi driver!

I was expecting the big eared @#/? to pull out a bag of Walkers

[old darwen blue]

A bit harsh, I still consider him to be a great player for England and part of the good team we had at Italia 90.

I love nostalgia!

[Amo]

Osasuna 0 Villarreal 3.

Three games, three wins, top of La Liga (for now).

Happy days.

[Salgado Is A Hero]

Next game against Real Madrid though.

[Audax]

Gareth Bale will be like George Best in that, most likely we'll never see him play in a World Cup.

[Salgado Is A Hero]

The Welsh have been getting all arrogant in the media and seem convinced that he'll take them to a major finals. I can't remember Giggs doing it who was top quality himself.

I like when British players go and play overseas. I know the likes of Lineker, Gascoigne, Hughes and Keegan did it and it's a shame that it's a rare thing these days.

Edited September 7, 2013 by Salgado Is A Hero

[roversfan99]

Wales are definitely the 2nd best home nation, Bale, Bellamy, Ramsey, Allen, Ashley Williams, Ben Davies, Neil Taylor, Joe Ledley and Jonny Williams is a decent core of players for a small nation.

[frosty]

It is yep - although their u21's lost 1-0 to San Marino u21's last night so I'm not sure how promising their future's looking.....

[Majiball]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24029055

[ultrablue]

Korea vs. Croatia is on tv at the moment. Up front for Croatia is one Nikloa Kalinic. He looks to have lost none of his weakness and lack of balance. When you are getting outmuscled by a Korean fullback you know its time to hit the gym. He's also missed a sitter set up by Eduardo.

Mind you this new crop of Korean players coming through is not much to write home about (in which case I will stop writing home about them right now).

[ultrablue]

Oh, he's scored. Header fron 5 yards out. Then he's immediately subbed.

[Audax]

It looks like Uzbekistan and Jordan are playing their 2nd match. http://uk.soccerway.com/matches/2013/09/10/asia/wc-qualifying-asia/uzbekistan/jordan/1483408/?ICID=HP_MS_01_01

n Asia, Uzbekistan and Jordan have just kicked off in their play-off second leg (the first leg was 1-1). The winners of that will face the fifth-placed team in South America for a place in the World Cup. - BBC

I quite enjoy some of the Asian rivalries, the Korean teams and Japan. Iran too. I once bought a grab bag of football videos, there's a game in there in fact, Iran vs. Syria, some sort of regional cup and Iran stuffs them really good. Must have been that 2004 match. http://eloratings.net/Iran.htm

--------------

Mexico lost at home, Estadio Azteca last Friday night to Honduras, 2-1, that is only Mexico's 2nd lost ever at Azteca in a qualifying match, the first being to Costa Rica about 10 years ago.

So Mexico fired their manager, El Chepo, who got them to the round of 16 in South Africa but who Mexico has been spinning their wheels under recently, having problems scoring etc. Of course, Mexico has Javier "El Chicharito" Hernandez and others, actually, they look lean up front except for Hernandez.

They play against the USA in Columbus Ohio later on. If Mexico plays in some US cities, LA, Houston, etc. it is almost like a home crowd. I take it Columbus Ohio, home of the MLS Columbus Crew is more of a USA advantage.

Should be a good match, Mexico is in 4th place, USA is in 2nd with 13 points, USA lost at Costa Rica Friday night, 3-1. Costa Rica has been to at least 2 World Cups, they are fair.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/soccer-insider/wp/2013/09/10/u-s-vs-mexico-match-primer/

Article to read if anyone is interested.

----------

Belarus up on France 1-0, Finland defeated Georgia, if results hold up, France Finland in next round of games could decide final playoff spot.

Edited September 10, 2013 by Audax

[Lathund]

Sweden won 1-0 in Kazakhstan, and had Austria not scored late against Ireland we'd have been almost guaranteed a playoff spot. As it is, we're still in pole position but need a win to be sure in the last two games.

Bit of a milestone game in that Anders Svensson got his 144th cap, making him Sweden's most capped player of all time. Wouldn't have expected that when he moved back to Sweden after his time with Southampton.

[Audax]

Sweden won 1-0 in Kazakhstan, and had Austria not scored late against Ireland we'd have been almost guaranteed a playoff spot. As it is, we're still in pole position but need a win to be sure in the last two games.

Bit of a milestone game in that Anders Svensson got his 144th cap, making him Sweden's most capped player of all time. Wouldn't have expected that when he moved back to Sweden after his time with Southampton.

It makes one wonder what 2nd place team will get stiffed.

This was discussed prior.

http://ie.soccerway.com/international/europe/wc-qualifying-europe/2014-brazil/1st-round/r15653/

The UEFA website says:

The nine group winners qualify directly for the finals and the eight runners-up with the best record against the teams finishing first, third, fourth and fifth in their section going into the play-offs. - http://www.uefa.com/worldcup/season=2014/standings/index.html

So all this seems to say is the games vs. the minnows, Faroe Islands, Andorra, San Marino etc.totally washout.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification

Another way to say this sounds like with the groups with 6 countries in it, take out the games vs. the minnows or last place and see what 2nd place team has the least points, that will be the team that does not go to the playoffs.

At the moment, Sweden with 17 points seems secure, a team with 13 points like Bulgaria or Iceland in 2nd might not be in that strong of a position. Not sure if this is fair, it seems a team like Cyprus, Malta or Azerbaijan as least in their groups are much better than teams like Andorra and San Marino.

[Commondore]

Sweden won 1-0 in Kazakhstan, and had Austria not scored late against Ireland we'd have been almost guaranteed a playoff spot. As it is, we're still in pole position but need a win to be sure in the last two games.

Bit of a milestone game in that Anders Svensson got his 144th cap, making him Sweden's most capped player of all time. Wouldn't have expected that when he moved back to Sweden after his time with Southampton.

6 points from two tricky away ties (Ireland and Kazakhstan) in the last few days, but I still don't trust Hamrén as far as I can throw him. He's gambling like a madman on who should play in central defense and central midfield while also condoning a style of play that gives the back four very little protection. To be fair he doesn't have the same calibre of players at his disposal that Sweden had only a few years ago (it's fairly telling that our best backup choice as a striker is currently a 31 year old domestic player), but I'd still take Lagerbäck back in a heartbeat.

[Audax]

I'm waiting to see that Neymar fellow break out at Barcelona. Wonder if it'll happen? Big build up with him.

[Amo]

Next game against Real Madrid though.

Psssssh.

[Audax]

Draw, Villareal 2 2 Real Madrid. How about that, Bale scored, assist by Daniel Carvajal, must be the top story at some sport news outlets.

http://www.elcentrocampista.com/ Here is a website for Spanish football in English.

[Audax]

http://int.soccerway.com/national/mexico/primera-division/20132014/apertura/r21476/

Mexican League is interesting,

They have 2 seasons per year or maybe better said, their schedule has two parts. From mid-July to November and February through May.

"Apertura", the opening and the "Clausura", Closing. Not sure if they combine them or how that works, I do think they combine the seasons to relegate clubs, the clubs that do the worse over the two get relegated. Necaxa is a big club in Mexico and they are still in the next division because they got relegated.

I'll keep it simple, the league seems rather wide-open, a club that does well in one season such as on that table, Guadalajara and UNAM (University of Mexico) Pumas did okay in the last season but are at the bottom of the table now. Chicharito I'm rather sure played for Guadalajara before playing for Manchester United.

America is probably the most popular club (along with Guadalajara) there but they have not always been big winners, that's certain.

Santos Laguna from Torreon in Northern Mexico has probably been the most successful club in recent years. Mexico's goalkeeper Osvaldo played for Santos.

And a big playoff at the end of each part, the first 8 clubs.

Wide-open though, not the same clubs year after year.

My friend is a big Pumas fan who are doing poor now but a few years ago, won it. Seems like they have 2 different champions a year, not sure how it all works.

Edited September 16, 2013 by Audax

[Guest Norbert]

I think the Argie league also works on some sort of 2 season average or something. It led to River Plate being relegated after a nightmare season:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/timvickery/2010/09/why_the_argentine_rollercoaste.html

Odd way of going about things.

[awhom111]

I follow the Mexican League pretty closely because of all the coverage here in the United States. It is has two seasons and two cups per year. Relegation (one up, one down) is decided on three years (six seasons) of average points collected. Teams pretty much never repeat as champions because of the balance in the league and because the league title is decided by playoffs among the top eight teams after seventeen games.

The wealth of the league (helped by Mexican nationals in the United States creating large TV deals) allows them to bring in pretty solid foreign players, almost exclusively from South America and local players from the league often stay instead of jumping off to the first European team that offers, unlike most of the other leagues in the Americas. Teams also have more power over players than other leagues as they can basically force players to swap clubs which helps maintain the balance as well.