2009/2010 Football (Soccer) Thread

[HaemishM]

Maybe they should start drafting strikers from the NBA.

[sidereal]

 If Liverpool keep struggling in the Prem and Lyon (who have been crushing it so far this season) beats them up in the group, Rafa will be in a world of hurt.

 

 

 

[WayAbvPar]

Pompey have a spot for Rafa when he gets sacked.

[sidereal]

I'm not sure he wants to be an assistant in the Championship. 

Mallorca just got bought.  I bet they'll have an opening.

[HaemishM]

By this point, I'm READY for Rafa to get shitcanned. The bench is just horrifying to look at.

[sigil]

By this point, I'm READY for Rafa to get shitcanned. The bench is just horrifying to look at.

Look at this  way. Liverpool have a chance to win another trophy now, and one that Man U will probably Never ever win. :D

Special1 TVs tweets on this have been awesome.

[HaemishM]

Liverpool looked pretty terrible against Debrecen. One poacher's goal is all they can muster? Lucas can't put free headers on target, the whole team apparently doesn't know where the goal is, and I still can't figure out what the fuck Rafa is thinking when he makes substitutions. He subs like Ron Moore writes BSG, with a dart board and a prayer. You paid 20 million for Aquilani, the least you could do is give him more than 30 seconds. Maybe they'd run out of horse placenta? Fuck, I don't know.

I'm not even sure they can win Europa League at this point.

[WayAbvPar]

If they don't get healthy (especially Torres and Gerrard) they won't win much of anything.

[sidereal]

I think Haemish is right to look at the bench.  Yes, they've had some tough injuries, and Rafa has certainly not been shy about using that excuse over and over again.  But if Man U lost Rooney and Giggs for a month, or if Chelsea lost Drogba and Lampard for a month, neither one would be bounced out of the Champions League.  They've got depth.  And if you're not prepared for injury, then you're not doing your job.

[sigil]

LeToux is now a member of the Philly Union. Just a bit of info for the Sounders fans here.

[WayAbvPar]

 

Love his work rate, but his finishing was subpar most of the year. Hopefully this will spur them into finding a proper forward so Ljungberg can play more midfield. I would have rather seen Jaqua go, tbh.

[WayAbvPar]

Decent article re: US chances in 2010

Sure would have been nice to be able to draw an Asian team. 3 and out is a distinct possibility now.

[sidereal]

I predict the US draws . . Brazil, Ivory Coast, Portugal. 0 points.

[WayAbvPar]

That sounds about right. Or they will draw France and lose, further enraging me.

[lamaros]

South Africa or... Argentina would be nice from the first.
New Zealand or North Korea would be nice from the second... pity both the US and Australia are in the worst pot. We're the teams others will hope to avoid, at least.
Pot three is hard to call, the African and South American teams are often unpredictable with their form.
The fourth group doesn't look especially strong. France and Portugal both have worse coaches this time around. I'd hope to avoid Serbia.

Will be an interesting draw. I expect most of the seeds will get through their groups a bit easier this time around.

[sigil]

US Soccers mock draaw had Group H: Italy, Uruguay, Greece, USA

My mock draw had Group H: Germany, USA, Chile, Switzerland

My Draw was notable for having  Group G: Argentina, New Zealand, Algeria and France. I dubbed it the  "we should not be here" group

[Amarr HM]

It's a bit sick that N. Korea and N. Zealand got in but Ireland didn't 

I just noticed USA are like 14th in the World rankings which will mean you get second seed in your group and can get a somewhat easier draw (theoretically).

[sidereal]

US Soccers mock draaw had Group H: Italy, Uruguay, Greece, USA

My mock draw had Group H: Germany, USA, Chile, Switzerland

My Draw was notable for having  Group G: Argentina, New Zealand, Algeria and France. I dubbed it the  "we should not be here" group

Weird.  Soccer By Ives has a mock draw, too.  I'm supportive of mocking in the caustic ridicule sense, but isn't mock sports stuff usually to make educated guesses based on strategies or whatever?  I'm thinking mock drafts.  Draws are just random.  Every combination has the same 1 in 4096 chance of happening.  So in the 1/4096 chance that a guy's mock draw is right, his mock analysis is just 2 days earlier than everyone elses, and in the 4095/4096 chance it isn't, it was just sports masturbation.  (Actually something like 3000, taking into account the rules about not grouping with teams in the same continent).

[sigil]

US Soccers mock draaw had Group H: Italy, Uruguay, Greece, USA

My mock draw had Group H: Germany, USA, Chile, Switzerland

My Draw was notable for having  Group G: Argentina, New Zealand, Algeria and France. I dubbed it the  "we should not be here" group

Weird.  Soccer By Ives has a mock draw, too.  I'm supportive of mocking in the caustic ridicule sense, but isn't mock sports stuff usually to make educated guesses based on strategies or whatever?  I'm thinking mock drafts.  Draws are just random.  Every combination has the same 1 in 4096 chance of happening.  So in the 1/4096 chance that a guy's mock draw is right, his mock analysis is just 2 days earlier than everyone elses, and in the 4095/4096 chance it isn't, it was just sports masturbation.  (Actually something like 3000, taking into account the rules about not grouping with teams in the same continent).

Frankly it's just something to do. I'm stuck waiting on the go ahead to start working. It took ten minutes. If I won the lottery and called it I'll get some fame on the places I posted the full, otherwise who gives a shit.

In reality, there's only a few really shitty draw opportunities and a lot of ones where I like the US' chances.

[WayAbvPar]

How the hell are there no posts about the WC draw yet? Slackers!

If the US had to play a tough seeded side, I am glad it is England- the 6 months of Internet bravado beforehand will be quite enjoyable. Slovenia and Algeria are beatable, so they should be able to advance. My sinking suspicion is that they will fight England to a 2-2 draw and then shit the bed against the other two.

North Korea may give up 30 goals. Mexico got the easy seeded team, but probably the toughest non-seeded Euro team. Germany's group should be a serious fight for all 4 teams. All in all, very pleased with the draw, other than Italy's fucking cakewalk 

[HaemishM]

Oh the LULZ - the dickwaving between the US and the Brits will be GLORIOUS.

Brazil and Portugal in the same group - so long North Korea and Cote De Ivore.  Spain got a bit of an easy group too, though not as easy as the diving Guiliani's. Should be a fun World Cup.

[sigil]

Oh the LULZ - the dickwaving between the US and the Brits will be GLORIOUS.

Brazil and Portugal in the same group - so long North Korea and Cote De Ivore.  Spain got a bit of an easy group too, though not as easy as the diving Guiliani's. Should be a fun World Cup.

Epic Dickwaving indeed. Release Agent Spector.  Time to sweep the leg on a few brit strikers :P Also Grant Wahl just Guaranteed two more printings of his opus.


Swap out Portugal and I'l agree with you on that part. The Drogbas will reach the round of 16.

[sidereal]

US Draw is great.  Except for the Pot A team, it's almost exactly the draw I wanted (I wanted Slovakia over Slovenia, but honestly, what's the difference?).  And since top two advance, you can gloss over the best opponent.

I don't understand why everyone is saying the Mexico draw is so cake.  It's like everyone saw they got the patsy Pot A team and then stopped paying attention.  France will probably eat them up, Uruguay is comparable, and who knows what will happen with South Africa and home country advantage, which always seems to be a pretty big deal.  Right now I'd give Mexico a 50/50 chance to advance, at best.  Certainly worse than the American chance.

Also, it annoys me when everyone obsessively looks for a Group of Death even when there isn't one.  Toughest groups are probably D and G, but even those have a couple of teams that will get rolled.  There really isn't a group where the 4th best team is particularly dangerous (except maybe A, the supposedly easy group for Mexico).

[sigil]

North Korea is a good bunkerball team.I look for them to get one draw, and totally fuck someone over.

[WayAbvPar]

Created an F13 bracket on ESPN.com-

First select which two teams will advance out of each the eight groups. The order you select them - 1st or 2nd - determines where they are placed in the 16-team bracket. Then predict the winner of the 15 bracket matches throughout the Finals. All picks lock with the first kickoff on Friday, June 11, 2010. Good luck!

Get in the action now:
http://games.espn.go.com/bpredictor/en/group?groupID=2129

Group: Bat Country
Password: f13.net

[sigil]

Sung to the tune of If You're Happy and You Know It.

"If it wasn't for the Yanks, you'd be Krauts"

[lamaros]

Australia's group is tough. Bleh.

[Righ]

Oh the LULZ - the dickwaving between the US and the Brits will be GLORIOUS.

England should be plenty pleased to be in a group with three second tier teams. That should allow them to avoid Germany in the next round so that they can get knocked out by France in the following one. 

I'm sure we're in for some awesome surprises in this cup. Italy's group is hysterically easy, that might muck up their attitudes going into the following rounds. But if you really want to know what's going to cause havoc in this World Cup, check this out:

http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/matches/index.html

Click on some of the venues and look at the altitudes. You can be at sea level one match and at nearly 2km up the next. Quite apart from the players stamina levels if they're not acclimatized, the ball will travel at a different speed - almost 5% difference between Cape Town & Jo'burg. The weather will vary between dry and cold to wet and almost balmy. It's going to be great. Muhahahahaha.

[Paelos]

Wow, could Brazil and Italy get easier draws? Group of Death on Brazil? Please. Why don't we just send greeting cards to the teams we like?

"Wish you weren't diving"

[Hoax]

This has got to be one of the hardest WC's to handicap in my lifetime at least.

How much of a boost will the African teams get?  Or will they fold under the added pressure of people for once actually expecting a good showing of them?  Typically everyone ignores the shit out of African teams and they play great underdogs this time it'll be a different story.

The location issues, especially the altitudes, I'm seeing coaches already commenting on it, a much bigger deal then I think any of us can realize.

That said here are my initial thoughts, groups ordered from strongest to weakest:

D - If you have to have a group of death this is it, weakest team is Australia, who aren't that bad.  Ghana is one of the best African sides and Serbia and Germany are both great.  I like Ghana and Germany to advance.

E - Dutch and Denmark to advance.

G - Brasil and Drogba to advance.  Portugal is fucked.

B - This is either the hardest or 2nd hardest behind the host's group to figure out.  Which Argentina team will show up, which of the top 3 teams is going to give up 2 points by only getting a draw with North Korea?  Is Nigeria any good, what about Argentina.  I'll take Argentina and Nigeria to advance because I hate Greek soccer.

F - If you compare this group to group C team by team its hard to make a case that this isn't a better group.  Not sure if Paraguay will choke or not but if they play well it'll be fun.  Italy and Paraguay to advance.

C - England and Slovenia to advance.  Before the car accident I would have been so fired up I might not have slept until summer, now my only hope is the kid from Germany, Maurice Edu magically reaching peak fitness in time and Jozy continuing to get good minutes and getting some goals in the Prem.  That is a shitton of if's.  What will really happen is the US will be overhyped, we will play sloppy against England, get thrashed 3-1 and then slump, over rely on "superstars" who have never been that good and crash out scoring only 2 goals the entire group phase.  England will go on to lose instantly in the knock outs because they are trash.

A - Who fucking knows with this group.  I mean can France be that bad, can Mexico be that bad, how much of a boost will RSA get?  I'm picking France and Mexico to advance.  I like the South Africans, they have some playmakers but those are two teams that are top to bottom much better and have a ton to prove.  France has got to figure this shit out somehow, the more dysfunctional they get the more convinced I am that somehow they are poised for another deep run its hard to believe they deserve.

H - Spain may end up regretting this draw, what a crap group.  If they are still sleepwalking when they hit the knock outs it may be a big problem.  Spain and someone to advance, who cares really.

[Amarr HM]

I agree with the majority of that. Germany's is the group of death but they'll qualify just cause they always turn it on when the tournament starts. Only bit I don't agree with is the England are trash, they have a good coach this time to match their squad so I'm a bit concerned about their ability to actually win this thing. They won't, though they should definitely make the Semi's.

[Hoax]

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/players/powerranking?cc=5901

This is the most depressing thing I've looked at in some time.  Look how low Torres is, how low Edu is how high they rate a worthless dick like Dempsey the order of the fullbacks etc.  I think its a fairly accurate look at what Bradley is thinking.  Bocanegra is utter shite, he has played so poorly in every game I've watched in 2009 maybe he's amazing in MLS, who gives a fuck, MLS is not competition that prepares you for WC so stop using MLS "talent" to determine anything but a player's fitness ffs.

[Numtini]

This is the most depressing thing I've looked at in some time.

God, I'm just not going to think about it. Makes me want to open a vein.

[sigil]

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/players/powerranking?cc=5901

This is the most depressing thing I've looked at in some time.  Look how low Torres is, how low Edu is how high they rate a worthless dick like Dempsey the order of the fullbacks etc.  I think its a fairly accurate look at what Bradley is thinking.  Bocanegra is utter shite, he has played so poorly in every game I've watched in 2009 maybe he's amazing in MLS, who gives a fuck, MLS is not competition that prepares you for WC so stop using MLS "talent" to determine anything but a player's fitness ffs.

Just a sec. you're saying Bocanegra  is MLS?

There are two forwards who are not on that list who I'd rate above Casey. Findley and Freaking Jeff Cunningham for starters. That list is shit. Outdated too.

Don't get all sandy vag just yet. Do you really think Charlie Davies was that Good? Really? You people are saying the USA lives off of individual effort?

[Bokonon]

Please, Dempsey is one of the USA's top 3 outfield players, for whatever that's worth. Yeah, he has his moments, for reasons only he knows why, but saying he is a "worthless dick" is just utter garbage.