Only 4 clubs remain in the 2008-2009 edition of the Croatia Cup and as usual, it is dominated by HNL-1 clubs as the all of the semifinalists play in the HNL-1 this season. These clubs include Dinamo Zagreb (the defending HNL-1 and Croatia Cup champion), NK Zagreb, Cibalia, and Hajduk Split (Dinamo Zagreb's biggest rival.
Below are my top 32 rankings for the Croatia Cup (the top 4 cannot change at all as the semifinals do not start until March 2009). The clubs that were eliminated are ranked 5-32 based on when they were eliminated and their goal differences, number of goals scored as well as my opinion on how they played, etc. (the only clubs not ranked are those that were eliminated in the preliminary round).
1. Dinamo Zagreb-- it looks like the defending champion is as dominant as ever. While the other semifinalists had to depend on penalties in the quarterfinals, DInamo Zagreb was able to crush their opponent (Zagora) 7-2 on aggragate in two legs. Zagora is a third division club so Dinamo did not have that much to worry about in this match being that they are an extremely strong club leading the pack in the first division league standings (see my last post).
2. NK Zagreb-- The other division 1 club from Zagreb defeated my favorite division 1 club (Rijeka) 4-2 on penalty kicks.
3. Cibalia- advanced to the semifinals with a 4-2 penalty kick result against Pomorac-- the only division 2 club in the quartefinals.
4. Hajduk Split-- defeated Slaven Belupo 7-6 on penalties to round out the top 4. Currently second in the HNL-1 standings, Hajduk could reclaim the Croatia Cup from rival Dinamo Zagreb, but I really doubt it the way they had to squeeze past Slaven Belupo.
5. Rijeka-- my favorite Croatian club (aside from Dinamo Zagreb) did make it to the quarterfinals--sorry for the mistake I made in my last post saying that they were eliminated in the Round of 16 by Zadar (they actually defeated Zadar in that match). I blame this on the fact that I cannot follow this competition that closely in New York. NK Rijeka was eliminated by NK Zagreb 4-2 on PK's after tying 2-2 on both legs leading to a 4-4 aggragate score. This puts Rijeka just outside the semifinals at #5.
6.Pomorac-- as a division 2 club, this club fared very well against some of the best HNL-1 has to offer. Cibalia defeated them on PKs.
7. Slaven Belupo-- was defeated by Hajduk Split on PKs.
8. Zagora-- Although Dinamo Zagreb crushed Zagora, this div 3 club proved to be a rather strong club when playing against some other good clubs. Since they are a division 3 club, they had to come all the way from the preliminaries in order to make it this far in this tournament and they had to defeat one division 2 club (Karlovac) and one divsion 1 club (Osijek) to do just this.
9. Zadar--eliminated by Rijeka in the second round on penalty kicks.
10. Karlovac
11. Inter Zapresic
12. Moslavina
13. Varteks
14. Konavljanin
15. Oriolik
16. Hrvatski Dragovoljac (translation: Croatian volunteers)-- this division 2 club has a lot of significance even though they are not one of the strongest Croatian clubs out there. The club is based in the neighborhood known as Novi Zagreb (New Zagreb) located in Zagreb, the country's capital city. The club was created in 1975 as NK Trnsko 75 and the name was changed to ONK Novi Zagreb one year later and then NK Novi Zagreb in 1990. When Croatia achieved their independence and the war began in 1991, the club was suspended since many of the members volunteered to fight on the war. The name of the club was changed once again to Hrvatski Dragovoljac in 1994 when the club resumed play in honor of those who fought and lost their lives for Croatia's independence. Since Croatia's army was just starting to build at that time, the government relied on citizen volunteers. The club also adopted a new logo which incorporated black as the team's color, symbolizing mourning. The club has also been pretty success since 1994. In 1995, the club was promoted to the now defunct Croatian First B-League, on which they finished first and qualified for the championship playoff to qualify for Croatia's 1st division where the finished 5th in their first season. In 1997, the club reached 3rd place in division 3 and qualified for the now defunct UEFA Intertoto Cup (a competition for European club who were not able to qualify for the UEFA Cup. UEFA has abandoned this competition and incorporated with the UEFA Cup by adding a preliminary round for the UEFA Cup for clubs that would have only made it to the Intertoto Cup). Hrvatski Dragovoljac repeated these successes for two more seasons with fourth and fifth place finishes in the HNL-1. Eventually they started to slip down the standings until 2002 when they were relegated back into the second division where they are playing now.
17. Istra 1961
18. Sibenik-- a first division club, was eliminated by Moslavina, a club in HNL-2, eliminated in the first round.
19. Osijek-- like Sibenik, Osijek is HNL-1 member this season and was also eliminated by a lower division club. However, Osijek's situation is worseas they were eliminated by Zagora, a third division.
20. Suhopolje
21. Medimurje
22. Mladost Cernik
23. Vukovar 91-- another club with a significant name. It is based in the city of Vukovar, which was under siege and completely destroyed at the beginning of the war in 1991.
24. Belisce
25. Lucko (pronounced Looch-co)
26. Graficar Vodovod
27. Polet Busevec
28. Orijent
29. HASK
30. Gaj Mace
31. Metalac Sisak
32.Kamen Ingrad-- this club withdrew from the competition allowing Oriolik to qualify for the round of 16 ahead of them without playing. The name of the club was adopted in 1999 after a construction company that became the club's sponsor. The club had been very successful since then. For example, in 2002 they entered the HNL-1 as well as the UEFA Cup in 2003, in which they lost to Schalke, a German club, in the first round. However, in 1002, they were relegated to the 2nd division after finishing the season in last place. Financial difficulties in the operations of their primary sponsor started to reflect in their performance and they started to slip down further until they were relegated to the third division at the end of the 2007-2008 season. In July 2008, they announced that they will not compete in any competitions during the 2008-2009 season and that their future was uncertain although the club is still continuing to run their youth teams. However, their stadium will be used as a temporary home for recently promoted first division side Croatia Sesvete.
Fore more information regarding the Croatia Cup in English, see its entry on Wikipedia.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
HNL 2008-2009 Soccer Update
It is more or less the middle of the Croatian soccer season as all of the Croatian clubs are now getting ready for winter break (HNL's 2nd division will not start playing again until February which is when they will complete their season). As a result, I thought this might be a good time to update the progress of the HNL (Croatia's domestic soccer league).
The format of the league is really quite simple. In the prva HNL (first division) which consists of 12 clubs, every club plays every other club 3 times for a total of 33 matches. The club that is at the top of the standings is crowned champion of the 2008-2009 season (no playoff is used to determine the winner. However, the HNL champion does qualify for the first round of qualifying in the 2009-2010 edition of the UEFA Champions League. The second place finisher qualifies for the second round of qualifiers of the 2009-2010 Europa League (formerly the UEFA Cup)-- which can be considered as somewhat of a consolation prize for those clubs that could not qualify for the Champions League. The third place finisher advances to the first qualification round of the Europa League 2009-2010. The rest of the clubs are eliminated from any international play. Clubs that finished 4th through 10th remain in the first division, but the club that finished at 11th after the 33 matches must play against the second place finisher of the druga HNL (2nd division) for one last chance to remain a member of the first division. If the the 2nd division club wins, that club will be promoted to the first division while the first division club is demoted to the 2nd division. If the 1st division club wins, the clubs remain where they are for the 2009-2010 season. The 1st division club that finishes in last place in the league is automatically demoted into the second division while the first place club in the second division takes their place. No second division club can qualify for a 2009-2010 international competition through league play. They must win the Croatia Cup (an elimination tournament that includes clubs from all levels of the HNL) to do so. The last place club in the second division in demoted to the third division (the lowest in Croatia's league system). Like the 2nd division, third division clubs must win the Croatia Cup in order to qualify for the Europa League (only the first division champion can qualify for the Champions League).
With that said, here is how the standings look right now as the clubs cease league play for winter break as well as what international competition they qualify for if they remain in that position for the remainder of the season:
In the first division, each club has played 18 matches a piece (about 55% of the season).
1. Dinamo Zagreb: if Dinamo Zagreb remains in first place, they are crowned HNL champions and qualify for the UEFA Champions League 09-10 Qualifying Round (if they lose in this round, they can still play in the Europa League)
2. Hajduk Split: Dinamo Zagreb's biggest rival are is currently only 1 point behind Dinamo Zagreb. should they remain in this position, they will advance to next season's Europa league 2nd Qualifying round.
3. Sibenik: will qualify for the Europa League 09-10 last qualifying round if they stay in this position. A fourth club will be sent to represent Croatia in the 09-10 Europa by way of the Croatia Cup. I at club ranked 1 to 3 win the Croatia Cup as well, the runner up will take the last spot unless that club is ranked 1 to 3 as well. Should this happen, the club ranked 4th will most likely take the Europa league spot (although I am not absolutely postive).
4. Slaven Belupo
5. Rijeka (my second favorite Croatian club--after Dinamo Zagreb. if they can play a little bit better in the first division or if they can make it farther in the Croatia Cup, I will start taking them more seriously (they are the closest club to the island of Krk where I visit almost every summer. They were eliminated in the second round of this season's Croatia Cup in a close series against Zadar (currently in danger of relegation into the 2nd division). Rijeka lost by one goal in the penalty shoot out.
6. Varteks
7. NK Zagreb
8. Osijek
9. Cibalia
10. Croatia Sesvete
11. Inter Zapresic: if they remain at this spot at season's end, they will have to play and win against the second place club in the second division (currently Istra 1961) in order to remain in the first division. If they lose, the second place club in the 2nd division will be promoted to the first division while they will be demoted.
12. Zadar: will be relegated to the second division if they remain in this position
HNL 2
For this league, I will only give a short description of what is going on. After 15 matches played per club, Slavonac is currently at the top with 35 points. The clubs in this division are really only playing for one thing-- to be promoted into the 12 club first division, and Slavonac is currently in a good spot to do so. While Slavonac will get an automatic qualification into HNL 1 in the 2009-2010 season, second place club Istra 1961 (only 4 points behind Slavonac) will most likely have to play in a playoff against the 11th ranked club in HNL 1. The final four clubs are relegated to HNL 3 (the lowest level in Croatian soccer). For more information (in English) regarding divison 2, click here.
Click here for more info regarding this season's Croatia Cup and here for more on the HNL First Division.
The format of the league is really quite simple. In the prva HNL (first division) which consists of 12 clubs, every club plays every other club 3 times for a total of 33 matches. The club that is at the top of the standings is crowned champion of the 2008-2009 season (no playoff is used to determine the winner. However, the HNL champion does qualify for the first round of qualifying in the 2009-2010 edition of the UEFA Champions League. The second place finisher qualifies for the second round of qualifiers of the 2009-2010 Europa League (formerly the UEFA Cup)-- which can be considered as somewhat of a consolation prize for those clubs that could not qualify for the Champions League. The third place finisher advances to the first qualification round of the Europa League 2009-2010. The rest of the clubs are eliminated from any international play. Clubs that finished 4th through 10th remain in the first division, but the club that finished at 11th after the 33 matches must play against the second place finisher of the druga HNL (2nd division) for one last chance to remain a member of the first division. If the the 2nd division club wins, that club will be promoted to the first division while the first division club is demoted to the 2nd division. If the 1st division club wins, the clubs remain where they are for the 2009-2010 season. The 1st division club that finishes in last place in the league is automatically demoted into the second division while the first place club in the second division takes their place. No second division club can qualify for a 2009-2010 international competition through league play. They must win the Croatia Cup (an elimination tournament that includes clubs from all levels of the HNL) to do so. The last place club in the second division in demoted to the third division (the lowest in Croatia's league system). Like the 2nd division, third division clubs must win the Croatia Cup in order to qualify for the Europa League (only the first division champion can qualify for the Champions League).
With that said, here is how the standings look right now as the clubs cease league play for winter break as well as what international competition they qualify for if they remain in that position for the remainder of the season:
In the first division, each club has played 18 matches a piece (about 55% of the season).
1. Dinamo Zagreb: if Dinamo Zagreb remains in first place, they are crowned HNL champions and qualify for the UEFA Champions League 09-10 Qualifying Round (if they lose in this round, they can still play in the Europa League)
2. Hajduk Split: Dinamo Zagreb's biggest rival are is currently only 1 point behind Dinamo Zagreb. should they remain in this position, they will advance to next season's Europa league 2nd Qualifying round.
3. Sibenik: will qualify for the Europa League 09-10 last qualifying round if they stay in this position. A fourth club will be sent to represent Croatia in the 09-10 Europa by way of the Croatia Cup. I at club ranked 1 to 3 win the Croatia Cup as well, the runner up will take the last spot unless that club is ranked 1 to 3 as well. Should this happen, the club ranked 4th will most likely take the Europa league spot (although I am not absolutely postive).
4. Slaven Belupo
5. Rijeka (my second favorite Croatian club--after Dinamo Zagreb. if they can play a little bit better in the first division or if they can make it farther in the Croatia Cup, I will start taking them more seriously (they are the closest club to the island of Krk where I visit almost every summer. They were eliminated in the second round of this season's Croatia Cup in a close series against Zadar (currently in danger of relegation into the 2nd division). Rijeka lost by one goal in the penalty shoot out.
6. Varteks
7. NK Zagreb
8. Osijek
9. Cibalia
10. Croatia Sesvete
11. Inter Zapresic: if they remain at this spot at season's end, they will have to play and win against the second place club in the second division (currently Istra 1961) in order to remain in the first division. If they lose, the second place club in the 2nd division will be promoted to the first division while they will be demoted.
12. Zadar: will be relegated to the second division if they remain in this position
HNL 2
For this league, I will only give a short description of what is going on. After 15 matches played per club, Slavonac is currently at the top with 35 points. The clubs in this division are really only playing for one thing-- to be promoted into the 12 club first division, and Slavonac is currently in a good spot to do so. While Slavonac will get an automatic qualification into HNL 1 in the 2009-2010 season, second place club Istra 1961 (only 4 points behind Slavonac) will most likely have to play in a playoff against the 11th ranked club in HNL 1. The final four clubs are relegated to HNL 3 (the lowest level in Croatian soccer). For more information (in English) regarding divison 2, click here.
Click here for more info regarding this season's Croatia Cup and here for more on the HNL First Division.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
UPDATE: New updated version of my last post
After looking at my last post, I'd like to make a few changes to my last post as I have made a few changes to my final MLS Cup 2008 rankings. Below are the new updated rankings (any changes I made will be described, any club that does not have an explanation has not been changed or I do not have anything further to say about them).
1. Columbus Crew
There is no way I can change the Crew's position in my rankings. Congratulations to them and their fans. No hard feelings that they lost to my Red Bulls. However, the Red Bulls still have the winning record over them in the regular season. Nobody can take that away. See you guys next season!
2. Houston Dynamo
I'm starting to like this club more and more. I'll be rooting for you guys when you play Firpo for your last group stage match in the Champions League. Houston is the only American club that has a chance to advance and I hope they d. If they do not, I would probably ended up rooting for the Montreal Impact, but please don't make do that, Dynamo. Represent the league and the the US Soccer Federation-- I do not want to to root for a Canadian club (do disrespect to our neighbors in the north) but you will leave me no choice if I do. GO USA and MLS!!!!!
3. Chicago Fire
Sorry Chicago Fire fans, I still hold quite a big grudge against this club, but like I said, they do deserve all the wins they get. Sorry about the word "hate" I used in the last entry. Hate is such a strong word, but I guess I am just jealous that you have such a good club. If the Red Bulls ended up facing the Fire (instead of going into the Western Conference playoffs had they done a little bit better), your club would have definitely eliminated my Red Bulls. We'll see what happens next season though.
4. New York Red Bulls
Okay, so here is my first change . I was thinking about it a little bit and I had a change of heart regarding my ranking of the Red Bulls. They deserve a higher rank than #6 spot I put them in last time. It was fantastic run though, but please, do better next season. You guys didn't deserve the MLS Cup the way you played the regular season, but now that you are runners up, you have my attention and if you do well in the CONCACAF Champions League next season, I will feel a little bit better about the Red Bulls.
5. Real Salt Lake
I had Real Salt Lake ranked 8th last time, but they do deserve a better rank. They made it farther than I thought they would, but the Red Bulls were just simply the better club in the Western Conference Championship match.
6. Kansas City Wizards
What was I thinking ranking them 5th? The Kansas City Wizards are s till a fairly decent club, but they deserve that high of a ranking. Sorry guys.
7. New England Revolution
Nice win at the Superliga and I still have respect for this club, but c'mon, this wasn't your best season. By the way, what happened to Taylor Twellman? I haven't seen much of hom lately.
8.Chivas USA
Still an overrated club.
9. FC Dallas
10. Colorado Rapids
11. DC United
12. Toronto FC
13. Los Angles Galaxy
14. San Jose Earthquakes.
1. Columbus Crew
There is no way I can change the Crew's position in my rankings. Congratulations to them and their fans. No hard feelings that they lost to my Red Bulls. However, the Red Bulls still have the winning record over them in the regular season. Nobody can take that away. See you guys next season!
2. Houston Dynamo
I'm starting to like this club more and more. I'll be rooting for you guys when you play Firpo for your last group stage match in the Champions League. Houston is the only American club that has a chance to advance and I hope they d. If they do not, I would probably ended up rooting for the Montreal Impact, but please don't make do that, Dynamo. Represent the league and the the US Soccer Federation-- I do not want to to root for a Canadian club (do disrespect to our neighbors in the north) but you will leave me no choice if I do. GO USA and MLS!!!!!
3. Chicago Fire
Sorry Chicago Fire fans, I still hold quite a big grudge against this club, but like I said, they do deserve all the wins they get. Sorry about the word "hate" I used in the last entry. Hate is such a strong word, but I guess I am just jealous that you have such a good club. If the Red Bulls ended up facing the Fire (instead of going into the Western Conference playoffs had they done a little bit better), your club would have definitely eliminated my Red Bulls. We'll see what happens next season though.
4. New York Red Bulls
Okay, so here is my first change . I was thinking about it a little bit and I had a change of heart regarding my ranking of the Red Bulls. They deserve a higher rank than #6 spot I put them in last time. It was fantastic run though, but please, do better next season. You guys didn't deserve the MLS Cup the way you played the regular season, but now that you are runners up, you have my attention and if you do well in the CONCACAF Champions League next season, I will feel a little bit better about the Red Bulls.
5. Real Salt Lake
I had Real Salt Lake ranked 8th last time, but they do deserve a better rank. They made it farther than I thought they would, but the Red Bulls were just simply the better club in the Western Conference Championship match.
6. Kansas City Wizards
What was I thinking ranking them 5th? The Kansas City Wizards are s till a fairly decent club, but they deserve that high of a ranking. Sorry guys.
7. New England Revolution
Nice win at the Superliga and I still have respect for this club, but c'mon, this wasn't your best season. By the way, what happened to Taylor Twellman? I haven't seen much of hom lately.
8.Chivas USA
Still an overrated club.
9. FC Dallas
10. Colorado Rapids
11. DC United
12. Toronto FC
13. Los Angles Galaxy
14. San Jose Earthquakes.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
MLS Cup 2008 Wrap Up
It looks like Mayor Michael Coleman of Columbus, Ohio will be celebrating this week with a traditional New York pizza from Staten Island, a large New York hero, and a Lager brewed at Brooklyn Brewery according to this article about a friendly wager that Bloomberg and the Columbus mayor announced to celebrate both clubs' first ever MLS Cup final.
Unfortunately, the New York Red Bulls came up short in a 3-1 loss to the Columbus Crew, who also won the Supporters' Shield--given to the club with the best regular season record. The Red Bulls had the better offense in the first half despite seeing themselves down 1-0 in the first 45 minutes, which gave the Red Bulls hope for the second half. Staten Island's own John Wolyniec scored the equalizer early in the second half, but 87 second later, Columbus Crew's Chad Marshall's header off a Schelotto corner kick put Columbus back in the lead 2-1. Frankie Hejduk scored the third goal off another assist from Schelotto, an Argentine national, to keep it out of reach in the 82nd minute. For the match report and more details regarding this match, click here.
To wrap up the 2008 Major League Soccer season, I would like to provide my final rankings for the 2008 MLS Cup and Regular Season as well as some final words and analysis regarding how each of the clubs finished. Since some clubs can get extremely luck when it comes to qualifying for the playoffs and playoff runs, I would like to analyze how each club did and why I ranked them the way I did by comparing their quality of play between the playoffs and regular season, instead of allowing the playoffs to speak for themselves. If you disagree with my rankings, let me know and we can debate.
1. Columbus Crew
Not even the fans of the biggest rivals of the Columbus Crew can deny it--Columbus Crew is definitely the number one club in Major League Soccer's 2008 season after winning both the regular season and the MLS Cup as well as the MLS Coach of the Year Award. Coach Sigi Schmid, who has been managing the club since the 2006 season, has taken a club with very successes to their first ever MLS Cup and won it (too bad it had to be at the expense of the New York Red Bulls) but I congratulate them anyway. In addition to the 2009 season, the Crew also has to look forward to the 2009-2010 season of the CONCACAF Champion's League, which starts next summer. The Columbus Crew got an automatic qualification to this international tournament--the winner of which advances to the 2010 FIFA Club World Cup. Even though the Mexican and Latin American clubs have pretty much dominated the 2008-2009 edition of this Cup, I can definitely see the Crew do fairly well in the tournament even though they probably will not make it all the way--this, however, depends upon whether or not Schelotto decides to stay in Columbus or return to Argentina.
2. Houston Dynamo
I know I'll probably hear it from a lot of Red Bull fans that New York should be taking the #2 spot, especially since the New York Red Bulls upset Houston in the first round of the MLS Cup Playoffs. Let me just say that I am a huge fan of the New York Red Bulls and nothing will ever change that but I have been extremely critical of the Red Bulls this season, especially closer to the end of the regular season and the way they backed in to the playoffs, but before I digress (I will talk more about the Red Bulls when I get to them), let me talk about why I ranked the Houston Dynamo #2. I ranked the Dynamo second in the regular season and they had a good enough regular season to stay in that position. They are also the only American club that actually has some chance to advance to next round of the 2009-2009 season of the CONCACAF Champions League (this is if they can win their last match in the group stage), but they are the only American club that has that chance. Therefore, I would not rank them lower for losing against the Red Bulls. They are still a pretty solid club that just had a bad day, and even if they d not advance in the Champions League, they have a good shot at going just as far, maybe farther next season since they are joining the Crew in the 2009-2010 Champions League as Supporters Shield Runner Up.
3. Chicago Fire
I hate the Chicago Fire, especially after that 5-2 trashing that they had done to the Red Bulls in the last Red Bulls match of the regular season. This forced the Red Bulls to rely on DC United to lose against the Columbus Crew and forced them to play in the Western Conference for the Playoffs since they had to take the second wild card berth. Also, Chicago Fire is a powerful club even though I still hate the club, but I have to admit they do deserve the wins they get. The Chicago Fire has qualified for the 2009 Superliga, which will start in July.
4. New England Revolution
New England is another club that did not move at all from their spot in the regular season. In my opinion, New England is starting become more and more overrated since they won this season's Superliga final against their Western conference rival Houston Dynamo--a club they have lost two in both the 2006 and 2007 MLS Cups, and finally beat them in a title match. Unfortunately, it was not the MLS Cup. Ever since they won the Superliga, I have not much from the New England Revolution. They have once again qualified for the Superliga next season/
5. Kansas City Wizards
Nope, no Red Bulls yet, but the Wizards have played fairly well this season and they were also pretty overrated in the last few seasons. They made it to the playoffs, but we eliminated in the first round by the Columbus Crew, and seeing how amazing an improvement the Crew have made since last season overall, I have to be pretty lenient with the Wizards.
6. New York Red Bulls
Finally! I know. Where do I start with this club that has disappointed me so much this season? They had a terrible regular season and they were only able to win one road match the entire regular season until playoffs and suddenly they started playing better where it counted but it doesn't stop me from wondering "why?" The only reason I can think of is because they ended up playing in the Western Conference (which sorry to say sucks pretty bad--except for Houston Dynamo which was a very good win but it seemed to come out of no where). Real Salt Lake seemed much easier for the Red Bulls. The main reason I am ranking them so low is the fact that if they did beat the Chicago Fire in their regular season finale, they would have ended up in the Eastern Conference Semifinal, but I do not think they would have made it as far as they did, so strangely, losing to Chicago was actually good for the Red Bulls--it allowed them to advance into an easier conference. Had they gone forward in the Eastern Conference, they would have probably of had to play Chicago again in the conference final if they would have been able to defeat the Crew in the first round (a club they should have beaten to win the Cup). The keys to the Red Bulls success in the playoffs was mainly due to Danny Capero (their new and young goalkeeper) and Juan Pablo Angelo (an excellent striker from Colombia). Cepero started playing goal in the second to last match of the regular season against the Columbus Crew, which they actually won 3-1. They also beat the Columbus Crew 2-0 in their first match of the regular season back in April. Cepero was like a wall in the matches against Houston and Salt Lake and one of the biggest highlights of the Red Bull season actually involved him. In his MLS debut (the match against Columbus Crew near the end of the season), he actually scored a goal off a free kick from beyond mid field--something few goalkeepers can boast that they have ever done!. Here is a youtube video of this amazing goal:
To give the Crew goalie some credit, however, there was nothing the Crew goalie could have done to stop that. The (American) football turf caused a higher bounce than usual so there was no way he could have saved that. That is definitely a once in a lifetime event.
The reason Cepero took over is because the Red Bulls regular starting goalkeeper allegedly purchased some over the counter painkillers not knowing that they had an illegal performance enhancing drug in the ingredients. The league suspended him.
Don't think I let that win against the Houston Dynamo go unnoticed! I had the Red Bulls ranked 8th in the regular season and their win against Houston and their unexpected playoff run is what put them up 2 spots to #6. My opinion of the Red Bulls, however, might change when I see them play against some premier league clubs that are not MLS affiliated in the Champions League next season which they qualified for by being MLS Cup runner up.
7. Chivas USA
Chivas USA, in my opinion, is extremely overrated and I feel that they should have done a lot better in the playoffs. it doesn't help that they were upset and eliminated by Real Salt Lake. This is the reason why I have them dropping one spot from #6 in the regular season to #7.
8. Real Salt Lake.
I also have Real Salt Lake dropping one spot to #8. I don't really consider defeating Chivas USA much of an upset anymore--maybe last season it would have been, but not this season.
9. FC Dallas
FC Dallas is another club that has become somewhat overrated the past few seasons. This season have not seen them play very well. In my rankings, the did not move at all mainly because they didn't qualify for the playoffs.
10. Colorado Rapids
My opinion of this club is the same as that of FC Dallas. I have seen very little from them this season.
11. DC United
The one club that could boast being the most successful club in Major League Soccer is now practically falling apart. Last season they started off badly but were able to come back to win the Supporters Shield for the second time in a row, but this season they were downright horrible. They were eliminated from the CONCACAF Champions League fairly early in the group stage and were lucky enough to face off against fairly easy clubs in the US Open Cup-- the only title they won this season--this win gives them another shot at redemption since this title qualifies them for Preliminary Round of the Champions League. Read this article about DC United's failed season.
12. Toronto FC
With Los Angeles Galaxy struggling this season, Toronto FC has actually saved themselves from ending their second season in MLS on the bottom. To be honest, the club has not been that bad this season--after picking up a few quality wins here and there. For example, a 1-1 tie and penalty kick loss in a friendly tournament (Carlsbery Cup) against Pachuca, one of Mexico's best clubs. They also managed a 1-1 tie against the Columbus Crew at home as well as a 3-2 win against a determined Chicago Fire side at home.
13. Los Angeles Galaxy
It is somewhat strange to see the Galaxy so low in the standings this season and not making the playoffs two seasons in a row, especially with players like Landon Donovan and David Beckham on the squad. Despite this, Landon Donovan did win the Golden Boot in the regular season.
14. San Jose Earthquakes
This was the expansion year for the San Jose Earthquakes and like most clubs during an expansion year, they were not that successful. The Earthquakes franchise did play as one of the original clubs when the league was first established in 1996 but were then known as the San Jose Clash. They successful for a few years winning two MLS Cups and a Supporters Shield. However, in 2005, they were put on hiatus while most of the players and coach moved to Houston to form a club known now as the Houston Dynamo. Eventually the club was reformed in San Jose.
For more information regarding MLS Cu 2008, check out the official website.
4.
Unfortunately, the New York Red Bulls came up short in a 3-1 loss to the Columbus Crew, who also won the Supporters' Shield--given to the club with the best regular season record. The Red Bulls had the better offense in the first half despite seeing themselves down 1-0 in the first 45 minutes, which gave the Red Bulls hope for the second half. Staten Island's own John Wolyniec scored the equalizer early in the second half, but 87 second later, Columbus Crew's Chad Marshall's header off a Schelotto corner kick put Columbus back in the lead 2-1. Frankie Hejduk scored the third goal off another assist from Schelotto, an Argentine national, to keep it out of reach in the 82nd minute. For the match report and more details regarding this match, click here.
To wrap up the 2008 Major League Soccer season, I would like to provide my final rankings for the 2008 MLS Cup and Regular Season as well as some final words and analysis regarding how each of the clubs finished. Since some clubs can get extremely luck when it comes to qualifying for the playoffs and playoff runs, I would like to analyze how each club did and why I ranked them the way I did by comparing their quality of play between the playoffs and regular season, instead of allowing the playoffs to speak for themselves. If you disagree with my rankings, let me know and we can debate.
1. Columbus Crew
Not even the fans of the biggest rivals of the Columbus Crew can deny it--Columbus Crew is definitely the number one club in Major League Soccer's 2008 season after winning both the regular season and the MLS Cup as well as the MLS Coach of the Year Award. Coach Sigi Schmid, who has been managing the club since the 2006 season, has taken a club with very successes to their first ever MLS Cup and won it (too bad it had to be at the expense of the New York Red Bulls) but I congratulate them anyway. In addition to the 2009 season, the Crew also has to look forward to the 2009-2010 season of the CONCACAF Champion's League, which starts next summer. The Columbus Crew got an automatic qualification to this international tournament--the winner of which advances to the 2010 FIFA Club World Cup. Even though the Mexican and Latin American clubs have pretty much dominated the 2008-2009 edition of this Cup, I can definitely see the Crew do fairly well in the tournament even though they probably will not make it all the way--this, however, depends upon whether or not Schelotto decides to stay in Columbus or return to Argentina.
2. Houston Dynamo
I know I'll probably hear it from a lot of Red Bull fans that New York should be taking the #2 spot, especially since the New York Red Bulls upset Houston in the first round of the MLS Cup Playoffs. Let me just say that I am a huge fan of the New York Red Bulls and nothing will ever change that but I have been extremely critical of the Red Bulls this season, especially closer to the end of the regular season and the way they backed in to the playoffs, but before I digress (I will talk more about the Red Bulls when I get to them), let me talk about why I ranked the Houston Dynamo #2. I ranked the Dynamo second in the regular season and they had a good enough regular season to stay in that position. They are also the only American club that actually has some chance to advance to next round of the 2009-2009 season of the CONCACAF Champions League (this is if they can win their last match in the group stage), but they are the only American club that has that chance. Therefore, I would not rank them lower for losing against the Red Bulls. They are still a pretty solid club that just had a bad day, and even if they d not advance in the Champions League, they have a good shot at going just as far, maybe farther next season since they are joining the Crew in the 2009-2010 Champions League as Supporters Shield Runner Up.
3. Chicago Fire
I hate the Chicago Fire, especially after that 5-2 trashing that they had done to the Red Bulls in the last Red Bulls match of the regular season. This forced the Red Bulls to rely on DC United to lose against the Columbus Crew and forced them to play in the Western Conference for the Playoffs since they had to take the second wild card berth. Also, Chicago Fire is a powerful club even though I still hate the club, but I have to admit they do deserve the wins they get. The Chicago Fire has qualified for the 2009 Superliga, which will start in July.
4. New England Revolution
New England is another club that did not move at all from their spot in the regular season. In my opinion, New England is starting become more and more overrated since they won this season's Superliga final against their Western conference rival Houston Dynamo--a club they have lost two in both the 2006 and 2007 MLS Cups, and finally beat them in a title match. Unfortunately, it was not the MLS Cup. Ever since they won the Superliga, I have not much from the New England Revolution. They have once again qualified for the Superliga next season/
5. Kansas City Wizards
Nope, no Red Bulls yet, but the Wizards have played fairly well this season and they were also pretty overrated in the last few seasons. They made it to the playoffs, but we eliminated in the first round by the Columbus Crew, and seeing how amazing an improvement the Crew have made since last season overall, I have to be pretty lenient with the Wizards.
6. New York Red Bulls
Finally! I know. Where do I start with this club that has disappointed me so much this season? They had a terrible regular season and they were only able to win one road match the entire regular season until playoffs and suddenly they started playing better where it counted but it doesn't stop me from wondering "why?" The only reason I can think of is because they ended up playing in the Western Conference (which sorry to say sucks pretty bad--except for Houston Dynamo which was a very good win but it seemed to come out of no where). Real Salt Lake seemed much easier for the Red Bulls. The main reason I am ranking them so low is the fact that if they did beat the Chicago Fire in their regular season finale, they would have ended up in the Eastern Conference Semifinal, but I do not think they would have made it as far as they did, so strangely, losing to Chicago was actually good for the Red Bulls--it allowed them to advance into an easier conference. Had they gone forward in the Eastern Conference, they would have probably of had to play Chicago again in the conference final if they would have been able to defeat the Crew in the first round (a club they should have beaten to win the Cup). The keys to the Red Bulls success in the playoffs was mainly due to Danny Capero (their new and young goalkeeper) and Juan Pablo Angelo (an excellent striker from Colombia). Cepero started playing goal in the second to last match of the regular season against the Columbus Crew, which they actually won 3-1. They also beat the Columbus Crew 2-0 in their first match of the regular season back in April. Cepero was like a wall in the matches against Houston and Salt Lake and one of the biggest highlights of the Red Bull season actually involved him. In his MLS debut (the match against Columbus Crew near the end of the season), he actually scored a goal off a free kick from beyond mid field--something few goalkeepers can boast that they have ever done!. Here is a youtube video of this amazing goal:
To give the Crew goalie some credit, however, there was nothing the Crew goalie could have done to stop that. The (American) football turf caused a higher bounce than usual so there was no way he could have saved that. That is definitely a once in a lifetime event.
The reason Cepero took over is because the Red Bulls regular starting goalkeeper allegedly purchased some over the counter painkillers not knowing that they had an illegal performance enhancing drug in the ingredients. The league suspended him.
Don't think I let that win against the Houston Dynamo go unnoticed! I had the Red Bulls ranked 8th in the regular season and their win against Houston and their unexpected playoff run is what put them up 2 spots to #6. My opinion of the Red Bulls, however, might change when I see them play against some premier league clubs that are not MLS affiliated in the Champions League next season which they qualified for by being MLS Cup runner up.
7. Chivas USA
Chivas USA, in my opinion, is extremely overrated and I feel that they should have done a lot better in the playoffs. it doesn't help that they were upset and eliminated by Real Salt Lake. This is the reason why I have them dropping one spot from #6 in the regular season to #7.
8. Real Salt Lake.
I also have Real Salt Lake dropping one spot to #8. I don't really consider defeating Chivas USA much of an upset anymore--maybe last season it would have been, but not this season.
9. FC Dallas
FC Dallas is another club that has become somewhat overrated the past few seasons. This season have not seen them play very well. In my rankings, the did not move at all mainly because they didn't qualify for the playoffs.
10. Colorado Rapids
My opinion of this club is the same as that of FC Dallas. I have seen very little from them this season.
11. DC United
The one club that could boast being the most successful club in Major League Soccer is now practically falling apart. Last season they started off badly but were able to come back to win the Supporters Shield for the second time in a row, but this season they were downright horrible. They were eliminated from the CONCACAF Champions League fairly early in the group stage and were lucky enough to face off against fairly easy clubs in the US Open Cup-- the only title they won this season--this win gives them another shot at redemption since this title qualifies them for Preliminary Round of the Champions League. Read this article about DC United's failed season.
12. Toronto FC
With Los Angeles Galaxy struggling this season, Toronto FC has actually saved themselves from ending their second season in MLS on the bottom. To be honest, the club has not been that bad this season--after picking up a few quality wins here and there. For example, a 1-1 tie and penalty kick loss in a friendly tournament (Carlsbery Cup) against Pachuca, one of Mexico's best clubs. They also managed a 1-1 tie against the Columbus Crew at home as well as a 3-2 win against a determined Chicago Fire side at home.
13. Los Angeles Galaxy
It is somewhat strange to see the Galaxy so low in the standings this season and not making the playoffs two seasons in a row, especially with players like Landon Donovan and David Beckham on the squad. Despite this, Landon Donovan did win the Golden Boot in the regular season.
14. San Jose Earthquakes
This was the expansion year for the San Jose Earthquakes and like most clubs during an expansion year, they were not that successful. The Earthquakes franchise did play as one of the original clubs when the league was first established in 1996 but were then known as the San Jose Clash. They successful for a few years winning two MLS Cups and a Supporters Shield. However, in 2005, they were put on hiatus while most of the players and coach moved to Houston to form a club known now as the Houston Dynamo. Eventually the club was reformed in San Jose.
For more information regarding MLS Cu 2008, check out the official website.
4.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
SCORE ALERTS!!!!!!
Some updates for tonight's live matches:
USA has scored their first goal against Guatemala 1-0 in the second half.
Mexico may be seeing the end of their World Cup run. Honduras is currently leading 1-0 as Jamaica leads Canada 2-0. Mexico may still qualify but they better hope Jamaica doesn't score too many more goals against Canadians if it ends like this. The most embarrassing thing is that a Mexican defender defender scored the goal for Honduras. One fan on the FIFA website feels tat Mexico is selling out in order to allow Honduras--a fellow Latin American team--to qualify ahead of Jamaica. This could be and it will work, but Mexico better pray that Jamaica doesn't shut out Canada with 2 or 3 more goals or else Mexico may be eliminated now. Karma's a bitch, huh Mexico?
Costa Rica is leading el Salvador 2-1 in the second half.
Jamaica beating Canada 2-0 in 2nd half.
Trinidad and Tobago beating Cuba 2-0 in 2nd half.
USA has scored their first goal against Guatemala 1-0 in the second half.
Mexico may be seeing the end of their World Cup run. Honduras is currently leading 1-0 as Jamaica leads Canada 2-0. Mexico may still qualify but they better hope Jamaica doesn't score too many more goals against Canadians if it ends like this. The most embarrassing thing is that a Mexican defender defender scored the goal for Honduras. One fan on the FIFA website feels tat Mexico is selling out in order to allow Honduras--a fellow Latin American team--to qualify ahead of Jamaica. This could be and it will work, but Mexico better pray that Jamaica doesn't shut out Canada with 2 or 3 more goals or else Mexico may be eliminated now. Karma's a bitch, huh Mexico?
Costa Rica is leading el Salvador 2-1 in the second half.
Jamaica beating Canada 2-0 in 2nd half.
Trinidad and Tobago beating Cuba 2-0 in 2nd half.
Today's Results in other World Cup Qualifying matches
A number of important matches have taken place already for World Cup qualifying.
Suriname and Haiti tied 1-1 in a match that ended up being meaningless anyway as both teams were already eliminated.
Fiji defeated New Zealand 2-0 in another meaningless match as New Zealand as already won Oceania qualifying and with it the Oceanian Nation's Cup which qualifies New Zealand not for the World Cup (not yet anyway) but instead they get to try out the world stage in the 2009 Confederation Cup next summer. Since Oceania is the weakest region, they may not get represented at all in the World Cup unless New Zealand can defeat an Asian team in a playoff. Australia is currently a member of the Asian confederation and is doing very well in its qualifying tournament.
Australia defeated Bahrain 1-0. Australia is currently in first place in Group 1 of Asian qualifying and has a perfect record thus far with no ties or losses. In addition, no team has scored against them as of yet either. However, it is still the middle of round 4 in Asia and anything can still happen.
United Arab Emirates, a fairly weak team, managed to tie Iran, one of the strongest of the Middle Eastern teams, 1-1. This mean very little for the Emirates as they are their group and this match has given them only their first point.
Japan defeated Qatar 3-0. South Korea defeated Saudi Arabia 2-0 which keeps South Korea at the top of the group 2 standings.
Czech Republic beat San Marino in the only European qualifying match. This was pretty much expected and puts Czech Republic in a three way tie with Poland and Slovenia with the Czechs in second place.
To see scores and standings as well as other World Cup news, click here.
Suriname and Haiti tied 1-1 in a match that ended up being meaningless anyway as both teams were already eliminated.
Fiji defeated New Zealand 2-0 in another meaningless match as New Zealand as already won Oceania qualifying and with it the Oceanian Nation's Cup which qualifies New Zealand not for the World Cup (not yet anyway) but instead they get to try out the world stage in the 2009 Confederation Cup next summer. Since Oceania is the weakest region, they may not get represented at all in the World Cup unless New Zealand can defeat an Asian team in a playoff. Australia is currently a member of the Asian confederation and is doing very well in its qualifying tournament.
Australia defeated Bahrain 1-0. Australia is currently in first place in Group 1 of Asian qualifying and has a perfect record thus far with no ties or losses. In addition, no team has scored against them as of yet either. However, it is still the middle of round 4 in Asia and anything can still happen.
United Arab Emirates, a fairly weak team, managed to tie Iran, one of the strongest of the Middle Eastern teams, 1-1. This mean very little for the Emirates as they are their group and this match has given them only their first point.
Japan defeated Qatar 3-0. South Korea defeated Saudi Arabia 2-0 which keeps South Korea at the top of the group 2 standings.
Czech Republic beat San Marino in the only European qualifying match. This was pretty much expected and puts Czech Republic in a three way tie with Poland and Slovenia with the Czechs in second place.
To see scores and standings as well as other World Cup news, click here.
Round 3 of CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying ends tonight
A few big matches are going on right now live in World Cup 2010 Qualifying for the CONCACAF region:
USA vs Guatemala: This match is currently on Fox Soccer Channel and as I am typing this it is 0-0 at the 20th minute. The United States is already through to the next and final round, which will be in the form of a 6 team round robin format---top 3 teams automatically qualify for the big tournament while the 4th place team plays the 5th place team from South America in a two legged play off. Chances are pretty slim for Guatemala to take the 2nd spot to advance since a win will make them tied with Trinidad and Tobago but tat is only if Trinidad and Tobago lose to Cuba which may seem like a long shot. The match is also on Galavision in Spanish. More to come regarding this match later.
Honduras vs Mexico: another biggie for both teams. A win for Mexico will put them into the next round, but a determined Honduran side will play with all they got as a win from them a little help from the Jamaicans against the already eliminated Canada could put Honduras and Jamaica through the next round. This scenario will leave the Mexicans crying home--something that has not happened in a while and I can't wait until it does--it would be the equivalent of Croatia eliminating England last year in Euro 2008 qualifying. This match is only in Spanish on Telemundo and is still scoreless.
El Salvador vs Costa Rica: not televized in New York (atleast not with the channels I have). Not too much riding on this match. Both of these teams are already advancing and Costa Rica has already solidified their place at the top of the group.
Jamaica vs Canada: not televized (at least I don't think it is). The Canadians are already eliminated, but Jamaica is still alive. The match is currently 1-0 in the 36th minute. In favor of the Carribean nation. The Jamaicans have not qualified for the World Cup since 1998 in which they were eliminated in the group stage which included Argentina, Japan, and the third place Croatian team. To keep their hopes alive this year, Jamaica must win but Mexico must beat Honduras in order for that to happen. There may be other scenarios in which Jamaica can advance but then it would have to go through complicated tie breakers and they have to have a pretty sizable lead over Canada so goal difference can go their way.
Trinidad and Tobago vs Cuba: I don't think this one is on any American channels either. Cuba is already eliminated, but Trinidad and Tobago can easily solidify their place in round 4 with a win or tie. However, a tie could screw their chances if Guatemala somehow manages an upset against the United States. The match is currently 0-0 in first half stoppage time.
Honduras and Mexico are currently in halftime while El Salvador and Costa Rica have hit the half hour mark. The rest of the matches are in first half stoppage time.
You can track the results live on this site.
USA vs Guatemala: This match is currently on Fox Soccer Channel and as I am typing this it is 0-0 at the 20th minute. The United States is already through to the next and final round, which will be in the form of a 6 team round robin format---top 3 teams automatically qualify for the big tournament while the 4th place team plays the 5th place team from South America in a two legged play off. Chances are pretty slim for Guatemala to take the 2nd spot to advance since a win will make them tied with Trinidad and Tobago but tat is only if Trinidad and Tobago lose to Cuba which may seem like a long shot. The match is also on Galavision in Spanish. More to come regarding this match later.
Honduras vs Mexico: another biggie for both teams. A win for Mexico will put them into the next round, but a determined Honduran side will play with all they got as a win from them a little help from the Jamaicans against the already eliminated Canada could put Honduras and Jamaica through the next round. This scenario will leave the Mexicans crying home--something that has not happened in a while and I can't wait until it does--it would be the equivalent of Croatia eliminating England last year in Euro 2008 qualifying. This match is only in Spanish on Telemundo and is still scoreless.
El Salvador vs Costa Rica: not televized in New York (atleast not with the channels I have). Not too much riding on this match. Both of these teams are already advancing and Costa Rica has already solidified their place at the top of the group.
Jamaica vs Canada: not televized (at least I don't think it is). The Canadians are already eliminated, but Jamaica is still alive. The match is currently 1-0 in the 36th minute. In favor of the Carribean nation. The Jamaicans have not qualified for the World Cup since 1998 in which they were eliminated in the group stage which included Argentina, Japan, and the third place Croatian team. To keep their hopes alive this year, Jamaica must win but Mexico must beat Honduras in order for that to happen. There may be other scenarios in which Jamaica can advance but then it would have to go through complicated tie breakers and they have to have a pretty sizable lead over Canada so goal difference can go their way.
Trinidad and Tobago vs Cuba: I don't think this one is on any American channels either. Cuba is already eliminated, but Trinidad and Tobago can easily solidify their place in round 4 with a win or tie. However, a tie could screw their chances if Guatemala somehow manages an upset against the United States. The match is currently 0-0 in first half stoppage time.
Honduras and Mexico are currently in halftime while El Salvador and Costa Rica have hit the half hour mark. The rest of the matches are in first half stoppage time.
You can track the results live on this site.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
A Quick Update
The New York Red Bulls defeated Real Salt Lake 1-0 for the Western Conference Championship which qualifies them for a meeting with a familiar foe from the Eastern Conference--the Columbus Crew--in the MLS Cup final next Sunday. This is the first ever MLS Cup final for both clubs. I don't have much time to go into detail--I will do that in a future post, but I do want to say that the Red Bull goalkeeper Capero was almost flawless in the playoffs.
Before I end this post, I just wanted to mention one thing. I was looking at some of my most recent posts and noticed that I forgot to follow up on my most post regarding the Tottenham-Dinamo Zagreb UEFA Cup match. I apologize for that. The final result was a shutout win by Tottenham over Dinamo. For more UEFA Cup and European Champions League results, go to uefa.com
Before I end this post, I just wanted to mention one thing. I was looking at some of my most recent posts and noticed that I forgot to follow up on my most post regarding the Tottenham-Dinamo Zagreb UEFA Cup match. I apologize for that. The final result was a shutout win by Tottenham over Dinamo. For more UEFA Cup and European Champions League results, go to uefa.com
Friday, November 14, 2008
MLS Cup Update: Columbus Crew defeats Chicago Fire in Eastern Conference Championship
Last night, the Columbus Crew, who also happens to be the winner of this year's Supporter's Shield (given to the club with the best regular season record) has qualified for their first ever MLS Cup in club history by defeating Chicago Fire 2-1 and winning the Eastern Conference Championship.
Here is a video of excerpts of the match from youtube:
Columbus Crew will advance to the MLS Cup next Sunday where they will play either Red Bull New York or Real Salt Lake. New York will be playing Real Salt Lake for Western Conference Championship this Saturday. More news to come regarding that match up.
Here is a video of excerpts of the match from youtube:
Columbus Crew will advance to the MLS Cup next Sunday where they will play either Red Bull New York or Real Salt Lake. New York will be playing Real Salt Lake for Western Conference Championship this Saturday. More news to come regarding that match up.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Dinamo Zagreb vs Tottenham Hotspur airing right now on Fox Soccer Channel
As I was flipping channels, I hit Fox Soccer Channel and to my surprise a Dinamo Zagreb (my favorite Croatian club) match is being aired. Lucky for me the match just started. Dinamo is playing London based club Tottenham in an away match for the group stage of the UEFA Cup (Europe's consolation tournament, the Champions League is the big prize in Europe). This match is especially interesting since former Dinamo Zagreb player and Croatian national Luka Modric plays for Tottenham. Since some Dinamo fans are known for violence, it will be interesting to see how they would react if one of their own scores a goal against Dinamo (currently first place in Croatia's league one). An announcement had to be made in Tottenham's stadium for the "Bad Blue Boys" (Tottenham's notorious fan group) to stop shooting flares. It almost seems as if the game is being played in Zagreb as Dinamo chants are being heard loudly in Croatian. This does not seem to be helping the struggling Croatian club as they are now down 2 goals close to the end of the first half (if anyone did watch this match already please do not spoil it for me). Modric assisted the first goal.
I will blog with more information as the game goes on.
Current score: 2-0 Half time
I will blog with more information as the game goes on.
Current score: 2-0 Half time
Friday, October 31, 2008
World Cup 2010 European Qualifying Update and Analysis
The European Zone of World Cup Qualifying is well under way with most teams playing at least 3 (some 4) matches already. Here is a group by group update.
The European Zone has 9 groups, 53 teams, and 13 slots for grabs at the 32 team final tournament. Groups 1 thru 8 have 6 teams and group 9 has only 5. The 9 group champions automatically qualify for the tournament. The top 8 runners up compete in a two legged home and away playoff round to determine who takes the remaining 4 spots. Since Group 9 only has 5 teams and therefore is at a disadvantage since they play two less games, the results against the last place team are discarded for the runners up in the other groups in order to even the playing field. Every team plays every member of their group twice.
Now that I've given you a short overview of how European qualification works, I will now get to a current analysis of each group and team:
Group 1
The groups seems to be quite lopsided and strange this time. Many groups seem to be dominated by traditionally weaker teams and stronger teams seem to be having a rush start. This group is a good example. Denmark, which is an okay team in my opinion, tops a group that includes stronger teams such as Portugal and Sweden. Hungary follows Denmark in second place while Portugal takes third. Sweden is in a disappointing 5th place after 3 matches while Malta is at the very bottom with 0 points. However, this may change very quickly as there is a lot of polarity in this group. The top 2 teams (Denmark and Hungary) are tied at 7 points. Hungary and Denmark also played once already to a scoreless draw so overall goal difference breaks the tie. Denmark has a difference of 6-2 (+4) while Hungary has a difference of 4-2 (+2). The teams at 3rd, 4th, and 5th place (Hungary, Portugal, and Albania ranked in that order) are currently tied with 5 points. Malta is at the bottom 0 points a -11 goal difference. Despite the polarity, I predict that Portugal will be the champion of this group. I think the rest of the group will be pretty tight with only 2 or 3 points separating each team. Denmark or Sweden will be vying for second place and Sweden will mostly get which will qualify them for playoffs. I cannot see Sweden not making it to the World Cup unless they get an extremely difficult playoff draw. I do not feel that Malta will ever pull of any kind of an upset so they will remain at he bottom with no points.
Group 2
Group 2 is possibly one of the weakest groups in European zone qualifying. Greece, a team that seems to qualify only for the Euro Cup and seems to choke when it comes to World Cup qualifying, has the best chances in this group. Switzerland is the only other team that may top the group. Israel, who I feel is not really a World Cup team, is good enough to cause quite a bit of damage to other teams in the group that have good chances. Other teams in this group are Latvia, Luxembourg, and Moldova.
Group 3
Group 3 does not have too many really strong teams either. Slovakia is currently at the top with 9 points after 4 matches (3 wins and 1 loss). Poland and Slovenia are 2nd and 3rd but are tied with 7 points. Northern Ireland and Czech Republic are also tied with 4 points but the tiebreaker goes Northern Ireland's way. It is quite strange that Czech Republic is so low in the standings in this group since they are probably the strongest team in the group. However, they have only played 3 matches while the majority of the group has played four so they will most likely get back on tract. San Marino is last with 0 points. In my opinion, although the group is not very strong, I feel that the competition for the first two spots will be tight. Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Poland will put up a big fight until the end and will most likely take the first four spots. Northern Ireland may win a few but I don't think they will compete well against these four teams. San Marino will remain at the bottom with no points.
Group 4
The strongest team in group 4 in Germany and is already 4 points ahead of Russia. The rest of the group isn't that impressive. Finland and Wales may win a few games at the expense of Azerbaijan and Liechtenstein. Germany will most likely take the top spot.
Group 5
Turkey, Belgium, and Bosnia-Herzegovina are most likely going to be the spoilers in this groups although I do not see any of them taking the top spot since Euro 2008 champion Spain is also in the group and will most definitely take that position. Estonia and Armenia are extremely weak teams, but Estonia might take a point out of teams like Bosnia-Herzegovina--a team that usually seems to got through periods of struggling in qualifying competitions.
Group 6
England and Croatia are the teams to watch in this group although Croatia has not played to its potential lately, but I don't think there is any question about Croatia qualifying. However, with England back to their regular form it will not be easy to take the top spot and Ukraine can cause some trouble to the Vatreni. I don't see much of a problem coming from Belarus, Kazakhstan, or Andorra. These tree are fairly weak. I have a feeling that England will most likely top this group. However, I think Croatia will at least tie England in London. Ukraine will be a close third while Belarus and Kazakhstan will be fourthh and fifth (in no particular order). Andorra will be in last place.
Group 7
This group is full of surprises. The once upon a time powerhouse France has been struggling since Zidane retired after the 2006 World Cup. Serbia, who has not qualified for Euro 2008 and was trashed by Argentina 8-0 in 2006, has had an amazing start and isat the top of the standings tied with Lithuania who is second with 9 points. Lithuania is another team that is not really that strong but has started out their qualifying campaign nicely. France is in third place and tied with both Austria and Romania who have fourth and fifth place respectively. Faroe Islands is last place with 1 point. It is going to be very interesting to see this group play out. Although they lost to France once already, I think Serbia will stay up in first place. I think France will make a fast comeback and fight for that spot as well. Lithuania will also fight to stay tight against Serbia and France. The rest of the standings will probably have Romania 4th, Austria 5th, and Farie Islands last.
Group 8
This might be Ireland's chance to qualify for a World Cup--something they have not done for a while. They are currently in second place with only Italy standing in their way. Bulgaria is third and four points away from Ireland. Montenegro is also in this group. After three matches, the Montenegrins have 2 ties and a loss. This is their first competitive tournament so it will be interesting to see how they will come out of this group at the end of qualifying. Georgia is tied with Montenegro on points but loses the tiebreaker due to goal difference. Cyprus is at the bottom with one point. I think Ireland could actually qualify this year and do so with dramatic fashion by taking first place in the group. Of courses, it will be a tight race against Italy, who, even if they do finish in second place, they will qualify unless they meet Croatia in the playoffs. Bulgaria and Montenegro will fight for third place. I have been quite amazed by some of Montenegro's results and they can take points away from of these matches. I don't see Georgia doing very well in this group. They'll probably do a little better or tie with Cyprus at the bottom of the standings.
Group 9
The strongest team in this group is the Netherlands who are currently undefeated in qualifying. The rest of the group does not impress me at all so Netherlands should qualify at the top with ease.
For current standings, click here.
The European Zone has 9 groups, 53 teams, and 13 slots for grabs at the 32 team final tournament. Groups 1 thru 8 have 6 teams and group 9 has only 5. The 9 group champions automatically qualify for the tournament. The top 8 runners up compete in a two legged home and away playoff round to determine who takes the remaining 4 spots. Since Group 9 only has 5 teams and therefore is at a disadvantage since they play two less games, the results against the last place team are discarded for the runners up in the other groups in order to even the playing field. Every team plays every member of their group twice.
Now that I've given you a short overview of how European qualification works, I will now get to a current analysis of each group and team:
Group 1
The groups seems to be quite lopsided and strange this time. Many groups seem to be dominated by traditionally weaker teams and stronger teams seem to be having a rush start. This group is a good example. Denmark, which is an okay team in my opinion, tops a group that includes stronger teams such as Portugal and Sweden. Hungary follows Denmark in second place while Portugal takes third. Sweden is in a disappointing 5th place after 3 matches while Malta is at the very bottom with 0 points. However, this may change very quickly as there is a lot of polarity in this group. The top 2 teams (Denmark and Hungary) are tied at 7 points. Hungary and Denmark also played once already to a scoreless draw so overall goal difference breaks the tie. Denmark has a difference of 6-2 (+4) while Hungary has a difference of 4-2 (+2). The teams at 3rd, 4th, and 5th place (Hungary, Portugal, and Albania ranked in that order) are currently tied with 5 points. Malta is at the bottom 0 points a -11 goal difference. Despite the polarity, I predict that Portugal will be the champion of this group. I think the rest of the group will be pretty tight with only 2 or 3 points separating each team. Denmark or Sweden will be vying for second place and Sweden will mostly get which will qualify them for playoffs. I cannot see Sweden not making it to the World Cup unless they get an extremely difficult playoff draw. I do not feel that Malta will ever pull of any kind of an upset so they will remain at he bottom with no points.
Group 2
Group 2 is possibly one of the weakest groups in European zone qualifying. Greece, a team that seems to qualify only for the Euro Cup and seems to choke when it comes to World Cup qualifying, has the best chances in this group. Switzerland is the only other team that may top the group. Israel, who I feel is not really a World Cup team, is good enough to cause quite a bit of damage to other teams in the group that have good chances. Other teams in this group are Latvia, Luxembourg, and Moldova.
Group 3
Group 3 does not have too many really strong teams either. Slovakia is currently at the top with 9 points after 4 matches (3 wins and 1 loss). Poland and Slovenia are 2nd and 3rd but are tied with 7 points. Northern Ireland and Czech Republic are also tied with 4 points but the tiebreaker goes Northern Ireland's way. It is quite strange that Czech Republic is so low in the standings in this group since they are probably the strongest team in the group. However, they have only played 3 matches while the majority of the group has played four so they will most likely get back on tract. San Marino is last with 0 points. In my opinion, although the group is not very strong, I feel that the competition for the first two spots will be tight. Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Poland will put up a big fight until the end and will most likely take the first four spots. Northern Ireland may win a few but I don't think they will compete well against these four teams. San Marino will remain at the bottom with no points.
Group 4
The strongest team in group 4 in Germany and is already 4 points ahead of Russia. The rest of the group isn't that impressive. Finland and Wales may win a few games at the expense of Azerbaijan and Liechtenstein. Germany will most likely take the top spot.
Group 5
Turkey, Belgium, and Bosnia-Herzegovina are most likely going to be the spoilers in this groups although I do not see any of them taking the top spot since Euro 2008 champion Spain is also in the group and will most definitely take that position. Estonia and Armenia are extremely weak teams, but Estonia might take a point out of teams like Bosnia-Herzegovina--a team that usually seems to got through periods of struggling in qualifying competitions.
Group 6
England and Croatia are the teams to watch in this group although Croatia has not played to its potential lately, but I don't think there is any question about Croatia qualifying. However, with England back to their regular form it will not be easy to take the top spot and Ukraine can cause some trouble to the Vatreni. I don't see much of a problem coming from Belarus, Kazakhstan, or Andorra. These tree are fairly weak. I have a feeling that England will most likely top this group. However, I think Croatia will at least tie England in London. Ukraine will be a close third while Belarus and Kazakhstan will be fourthh and fifth (in no particular order). Andorra will be in last place.
Group 7
This group is full of surprises. The once upon a time powerhouse France has been struggling since Zidane retired after the 2006 World Cup. Serbia, who has not qualified for Euro 2008 and was trashed by Argentina 8-0 in 2006, has had an amazing start and isat the top of the standings tied with Lithuania who is second with 9 points. Lithuania is another team that is not really that strong but has started out their qualifying campaign nicely. France is in third place and tied with both Austria and Romania who have fourth and fifth place respectively. Faroe Islands is last place with 1 point. It is going to be very interesting to see this group play out. Although they lost to France once already, I think Serbia will stay up in first place. I think France will make a fast comeback and fight for that spot as well. Lithuania will also fight to stay tight against Serbia and France. The rest of the standings will probably have Romania 4th, Austria 5th, and Farie Islands last.
Group 8
This might be Ireland's chance to qualify for a World Cup--something they have not done for a while. They are currently in second place with only Italy standing in their way. Bulgaria is third and four points away from Ireland. Montenegro is also in this group. After three matches, the Montenegrins have 2 ties and a loss. This is their first competitive tournament so it will be interesting to see how they will come out of this group at the end of qualifying. Georgia is tied with Montenegro on points but loses the tiebreaker due to goal difference. Cyprus is at the bottom with one point. I think Ireland could actually qualify this year and do so with dramatic fashion by taking first place in the group. Of courses, it will be a tight race against Italy, who, even if they do finish in second place, they will qualify unless they meet Croatia in the playoffs. Bulgaria and Montenegro will fight for third place. I have been quite amazed by some of Montenegro's results and they can take points away from of these matches. I don't see Georgia doing very well in this group. They'll probably do a little better or tie with Cyprus at the bottom of the standings.
Group 9
The strongest team in this group is the Netherlands who are currently undefeated in qualifying. The rest of the group does not impress me at all so Netherlands should qualify at the top with ease.
For current standings, click here.
Modric Speaks Out about Disappointment over his bad form as well as Tottenham morale
I was just on the English Premier League website and found an interesting article about Modric and how he has been struggling lately to find his form.
According tot he article, Modric admists that he "can play better" but also says that "we all can" in regards to Tottenham's disappointing season.
Tottenham has never been one of the best teams in the English Premier League but they have never been this bad. They are currently last place in standings--even worse than the clubs that moved up tot eh Premier League from England's lower leagues last season.
However, Modric does not feel that are morale issues within Tottenham.
In addition to their regular league schedule, Tottenham will be playing Dinamo Zagreb of Croatia, Modric's former club, in early November as part of the UEFA Cup.
According tot he article, Modric admists that he "can play better" but also says that "we all can" in regards to Tottenham's disappointing season.
Tottenham has never been one of the best teams in the English Premier League but they have never been this bad. They are currently last place in standings--even worse than the clubs that moved up tot eh Premier League from England's lower leagues last season.
However, Modric does not feel that are morale issues within Tottenham.
In addition to their regular league schedule, Tottenham will be playing Dinamo Zagreb of Croatia, Modric's former club, in early November as part of the UEFA Cup.
When will Eduardo come back?
The Croatian National soccer team needs help. Despite a pretty good showing at the Euro 2008 group stage (where they went undefeated-their wins included an upset of Germany who despite this still went on to claim second place in the tournament after losing to Spain in the final), Croatia had a heartbreaking loss in the quarterfinals against Turkey and had a terrible start to their World Cup 2010 qualifying campaign. They are currently in second place in group 6--a qualifying position if qualifying position if Croatia can win a few more games but in World Cup qualifying this can be somewhat dangerous since only the group winners qualify automatically while 8 out of the 9 runner ups (according to record) must play in a playoff in order to to have a chance at World Cup glory. Croatia has played 4 out of their 10 qualifying matches. and their next one is not until April so it looks like we're going have wait a few more months before things get rolling again in respect to the World Cup. In their four qualifying matches, Croatia's record is 2-1-1 which gives them 7 points and 5 points behind current group leader England. Here is a short analysis of Croatia's qualifying campaign so far:
Sept. 6, 2008: Croatia vs Kazakhstan 3-0 (Zagreb) Croatia kicked things off on a good note with a 3-0 shut out against the Kazakhis (I can just picture Borat sobbing in a dark room somewhere saying "that no nice") but anyway this was somewhat expected and not really that impressive of a win.
Sept. 10, 2008: Croatia vs England 1-4 (Zagreb) It was a sad day to be a Croatian on this beautiful September day which saw Croatia lose their first match in Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb since May 28, 2000 when they lost a friendly against France 2-0. The "Vatreni" remained in Zagreb to face off against the English and lets just say the English got their revenge in dramatic style crushing Croatia 4-1. This kind of score would have been expected 5 to 10 years ago but after seeing Croatia beating England last November and their game against Germany in Euro 2008, the match should have been tighter than this. The first half ended 1-0 for England and Croatia played fairly well--I could even say it was the same Croatian team we say back in Euro 2008 but in the second half a red card caused Robert Kovac to be sent off at the 52nd minute forcing Croatia to play 38 minutes down a man. Since then, things started to go downhill fact while England scored 3 more goals at the 59th, 63rd, and 82nd minutes. Croatia, only goal was scored my newcomer Mario Mandzukic at the 78th minute but this was too little too late. Although Mandzukic does seem like a promising new player, the loss shocked the 35, 218 fans that were in attendance according to this FIFA Match Report. This was the last time I actually watched Croatia play on TV since the game was being shown on Time Warner Cable PPV which I watched at my friend's house. Hopefully more games will be shown. Despite this loss, I'm still hopeful that Croatia may defeat England when they play in London on September 9, 2009 (my 23rd birthday and the second to last game for Croatia in the qualifying round). This could end up being a crucial match for Croatia's chances. What makes me hopeful for a Croatia win or at least a tie is a quote from Capello, England's new coach, that I read in an issue of the Croatian Chronicle after the Croatia-England match in Zagreb. According to Capello, the English players biggest weakness still seems to be the pressure their fans put on them in London which affects their play. While England may have killed Croatia on goal difference now, Slaven Bilic and the boys still have a major opportunity to even the score but first they cannot mess against a team like Belarus or Kazakhstan or esle things will be a lot harder later on.
Oct 11, 2008: Ukraine vs Croatia 0-0 (Kharkov) A month after the disaster in England, Croatia went to Kharkov, Ukraine to play a determined Ukrainian team. This match, although Croatia gained a point in the standings, it did not do much for Croatia's goal difference, which is the only thing separating Croatia and Ukraine in the standings right now being that they are tied on points. Croatia's goal difference is currently 8-4 (+4) while Ukraine's is 4-1 (+3). Ukraine is a fairly strong team that could do some damage as they play some of the weaker teams in the group such as Andorra and Belarus. Englands goal difference right now is 14-3 (+11) which is not a good sign if Croatia somehow ties England on points somewhere a long the line.
The latest match Croatia played was against Andorra on October 15 in Zagreb. Another weak team, Andorra has lost al of its four qualifying match so far. Croatia defeated them 4-0--again not that impressive since Andorra is a very weak team and has scored only 1 goal in their last 4 qualifying matches which includes the match against Croatia.
With da Silva still out, Slaven Bilic has expected Luka Modric, who currently plays for English club Tottenham, to step up, but he is currently struggling to find his form while playing for Tottenham and this has carried over to the national tea as well.
So, what will Croatia need to boost their qualifying campaign? The return of Eduardo da Silva won't hurt. One Eduardo da Silva fan site reports that the Brazilian born striker will return to his English club Arsenal before Christmas of this year (hopefully in November) and therefore should be available as Croatia gets ready to continue their qualifying campaign in April. This news came from Arsenal's coach a few months ago.
Eduardo da Silva told Sky News Sports that his recovery was going well. "I was in Brazil for four months, I worked hard every day doing two sessions for six or seven hours every day." Da Silva also told Sky News Sports that it frustrating for him because at the time of his tragic injury--an injury that made many believe that he was never going to play again-Arsenal was "scoring a lot of goals and doing good in the table." Eduardo received his injury last February. Manchester United has already won the English Premier League Title for the 2007-2008 season.
Sept. 6, 2008: Croatia vs Kazakhstan 3-0 (Zagreb) Croatia kicked things off on a good note with a 3-0 shut out against the Kazakhis (I can just picture Borat sobbing in a dark room somewhere saying "that no nice") but anyway this was somewhat expected and not really that impressive of a win.
Sept. 10, 2008: Croatia vs England 1-4 (Zagreb) It was a sad day to be a Croatian on this beautiful September day which saw Croatia lose their first match in Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb since May 28, 2000 when they lost a friendly against France 2-0. The "Vatreni" remained in Zagreb to face off against the English and lets just say the English got their revenge in dramatic style crushing Croatia 4-1. This kind of score would have been expected 5 to 10 years ago but after seeing Croatia beating England last November and their game against Germany in Euro 2008, the match should have been tighter than this. The first half ended 1-0 for England and Croatia played fairly well--I could even say it was the same Croatian team we say back in Euro 2008 but in the second half a red card caused Robert Kovac to be sent off at the 52nd minute forcing Croatia to play 38 minutes down a man. Since then, things started to go downhill fact while England scored 3 more goals at the 59th, 63rd, and 82nd minutes. Croatia, only goal was scored my newcomer Mario Mandzukic at the 78th minute but this was too little too late. Although Mandzukic does seem like a promising new player, the loss shocked the 35, 218 fans that were in attendance according to this FIFA Match Report. This was the last time I actually watched Croatia play on TV since the game was being shown on Time Warner Cable PPV which I watched at my friend's house. Hopefully more games will be shown. Despite this loss, I'm still hopeful that Croatia may defeat England when they play in London on September 9, 2009 (my 23rd birthday and the second to last game for Croatia in the qualifying round). This could end up being a crucial match for Croatia's chances. What makes me hopeful for a Croatia win or at least a tie is a quote from Capello, England's new coach, that I read in an issue of the Croatian Chronicle after the Croatia-England match in Zagreb. According to Capello, the English players biggest weakness still seems to be the pressure their fans put on them in London which affects their play. While England may have killed Croatia on goal difference now, Slaven Bilic and the boys still have a major opportunity to even the score but first they cannot mess against a team like Belarus or Kazakhstan or esle things will be a lot harder later on.
Oct 11, 2008: Ukraine vs Croatia 0-0 (Kharkov) A month after the disaster in England, Croatia went to Kharkov, Ukraine to play a determined Ukrainian team. This match, although Croatia gained a point in the standings, it did not do much for Croatia's goal difference, which is the only thing separating Croatia and Ukraine in the standings right now being that they are tied on points. Croatia's goal difference is currently 8-4 (+4) while Ukraine's is 4-1 (+3). Ukraine is a fairly strong team that could do some damage as they play some of the weaker teams in the group such as Andorra and Belarus. Englands goal difference right now is 14-3 (+11) which is not a good sign if Croatia somehow ties England on points somewhere a long the line.
The latest match Croatia played was against Andorra on October 15 in Zagreb. Another weak team, Andorra has lost al of its four qualifying match so far. Croatia defeated them 4-0--again not that impressive since Andorra is a very weak team and has scored only 1 goal in their last 4 qualifying matches which includes the match against Croatia.
With da Silva still out, Slaven Bilic has expected Luka Modric, who currently plays for English club Tottenham, to step up, but he is currently struggling to find his form while playing for Tottenham and this has carried over to the national tea as well.
So, what will Croatia need to boost their qualifying campaign? The return of Eduardo da Silva won't hurt. One Eduardo da Silva fan site reports that the Brazilian born striker will return to his English club Arsenal before Christmas of this year (hopefully in November) and therefore should be available as Croatia gets ready to continue their qualifying campaign in April. This news came from Arsenal's coach a few months ago.
Eduardo da Silva told Sky News Sports that his recovery was going well. "I was in Brazil for four months, I worked hard every day doing two sessions for six or seven hours every day." Da Silva also told Sky News Sports that it frustrating for him because at the time of his tragic injury--an injury that made many believe that he was never going to play again-Arsenal was "scoring a lot of goals and doing good in the table." Eduardo received his injury last February. Manchester United has already won the English Premier League Title for the 2007-2008 season.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Bilic releases squad for upcoming World Cup qualifying round matches
I finally back to blogging after a long summer hiatus, and on my first blog back, I would like a talk a little bit about Slaven Bilic's selections for the first two matches in World Cup qualifying in September.
After June's big upset and elimination at the hands of Turkey (a very heartbreaking loss but a very good match I have to admit), Croatia came back with a friendly win against Slovenia in August. Up next for Croatia is World Cup qualifying for South Africa 2010.
Today Bilic announced the 22 players that will make up his squad in the two upcoming home matches in Zagreb against Kazakhstan on September 6 and the England four days later. The one against England is going to be a symbolic one and very important as England attempts to get revenge from Croatia. It is going to be a tough one in Zagreb no matter who the result favors at the end.
At first glance, Croatis will have pretty much the same team as in Euro 2008.
Goalkeepers: Stipe Pletikosa (Spartak Moscow), Vedran Runje (RC Lens)
No surprise here. Pletikosa is always there star goalkeeper and is one of the best in Europe in my opinion. Haven't seen much of Runje. I think he played against Poland in the Euro in order to rest up Pletikosa for the quarterfinal against Turkey. They won against Poland so he must not be that bad.
Defenders: Vedran Corluka (Manchester City), Dario Simic (Monaco), Robert Kovac (Borussia Dortmund), Josip Simunic (Hertha Berlin), Dario Knezevic (Juventus), Hrvoje Vejic (Tom Tomsk), Ivica Krizanac (Zenit St. Petersburg)
Pretty much regular Defenders. Simic, Kovac, and Simunic are three of the best players on the squad in my opinion so no problems here.
Midfielders: Danijel Pranjic (Heerenveen), Darijo Srna (Shakhtar Donetsk), Niko Kovac (Salzburg), Luka Modric (Tottenham), Jerko Leko (Monaco), Ivan Rakitic (Schalke 04), Ognjen Vukojevic (Dynamo Kiev), Nikola Pokrivac (Monaco)
Why doesn't Modric play forward? He is an excellent striker, but I guess Bilic knows what he's doing. Modric's recent transfer to Tottenham in the English Premier League from Dinamo Zagreb will give the young and talented player some good experience in a tougher league. Dario Srna is another player to watch and will defintely score a few goals in the upcoming matches. Other players to watch here are Niko Kovac and Rakitic. I don't too much about Rakitic but he seems promising.
Forwards: Mladen Petric (Hamburg SV), Ivica Olic (Hamburg SV), Ivan Klasnic (Nantes), Nikola Kalinic (Hajduk Split), Mario Mandzukic (Dinamo Zagreb)
Mladen Petric did not exactly play up to his potential at the Euro and definitely not the way he did in November in 2007 that crushed England's only opportunity to advance to the Euro finals. I hope he bounces back though because he is an excellent players. His teammate from Hamburg SV is also an excellent striker. Klasnic is also one of the best.
Who's missing? Eduardo da Silva is not there for obvious reason, but recent good news from London-base club Arsenal's head coach shows that he may be fit enough to play for Arsenal in November which is about nine months after his tragic accident. He should be on the squad at around that time.
After June's big upset and elimination at the hands of Turkey (a very heartbreaking loss but a very good match I have to admit), Croatia came back with a friendly win against Slovenia in August. Up next for Croatia is World Cup qualifying for South Africa 2010.
Today Bilic announced the 22 players that will make up his squad in the two upcoming home matches in Zagreb against Kazakhstan on September 6 and the England four days later. The one against England is going to be a symbolic one and very important as England attempts to get revenge from Croatia. It is going to be a tough one in Zagreb no matter who the result favors at the end.
At first glance, Croatis will have pretty much the same team as in Euro 2008.
Goalkeepers: Stipe Pletikosa (Spartak Moscow), Vedran Runje (RC Lens)
No surprise here. Pletikosa is always there star goalkeeper and is one of the best in Europe in my opinion. Haven't seen much of Runje. I think he played against Poland in the Euro in order to rest up Pletikosa for the quarterfinal against Turkey. They won against Poland so he must not be that bad.
Defenders: Vedran Corluka (Manchester City), Dario Simic (Monaco), Robert Kovac (Borussia Dortmund), Josip Simunic (Hertha Berlin), Dario Knezevic (Juventus), Hrvoje Vejic (Tom Tomsk), Ivica Krizanac (Zenit St. Petersburg)
Pretty much regular Defenders. Simic, Kovac, and Simunic are three of the best players on the squad in my opinion so no problems here.
Midfielders: Danijel Pranjic (Heerenveen), Darijo Srna (Shakhtar Donetsk), Niko Kovac (Salzburg), Luka Modric (Tottenham), Jerko Leko (Monaco), Ivan Rakitic (Schalke 04), Ognjen Vukojevic (Dynamo Kiev), Nikola Pokrivac (Monaco)
Why doesn't Modric play forward? He is an excellent striker, but I guess Bilic knows what he's doing. Modric's recent transfer to Tottenham in the English Premier League from Dinamo Zagreb will give the young and talented player some good experience in a tougher league. Dario Srna is another player to watch and will defintely score a few goals in the upcoming matches. Other players to watch here are Niko Kovac and Rakitic. I don't too much about Rakitic but he seems promising.
Forwards: Mladen Petric (Hamburg SV), Ivica Olic (Hamburg SV), Ivan Klasnic (Nantes), Nikola Kalinic (Hajduk Split), Mario Mandzukic (Dinamo Zagreb)
Mladen Petric did not exactly play up to his potential at the Euro and definitely not the way he did in November in 2007 that crushed England's only opportunity to advance to the Euro finals. I hope he bounces back though because he is an excellent players. His teammate from Hamburg SV is also an excellent striker. Klasnic is also one of the best.
Who's missing? Eduardo da Silva is not there for obvious reason, but recent good news from London-base club Arsenal's head coach shows that he may be fit enough to play for Arsenal in November which is about nine months after his tragic accident. He should be on the squad at around that time.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Russia vs Spain (match to begin in less than an hour)
Russia has a lot to be thankful for, especially to Croatia, after they they were really qualified due to Croatia's epic win against England. I'm not saying this to be pompous but it is true. No wonder CEO's and presidents of russian companies tried to give Croatian players (especially Pletikosa--"Croatia's wall"--their goalkeeper that saved them from a tie or even a defeat at the hands of austria) a BMW--a prize that they did not accept because UEFA probably frowns on those kinds of rewards. Pletikosa plays for a Russian club so the Russians know him very well and are grateful. Russians in Astoria, Queens were even wearing the Coratian coat of arms on the days following the Croatia-England game. However, this time Russia does not have Croatia in their group to help them again, but they shouldn't need it--Dutch coach Guus Hiddink who I mentioned in a previous post is amazing and I feel confident that our fellow Slavic brothers will reach their goal. Yes, Croatian fans, I said Slavic. I know some of you don't like that word and I know that Croatian history shows that we really aren't Slavs. Political enemies with Russians, yes we are. Did they support Serbia during the war? Yes they did. But in sport, I root for out fellow Balkan and Eastern European rivals (even Serbia)--Here's to a Russia-Croatia final.....afterall, we have some unfinished business to take care of against the Russians: 0-0 ties in both of our Euro qualifiers against them--we cannot let that stand (but defeating them in a friendly will be fine. I'll take whatever I can get. anyway, i digress. here is a video I found on youtube on Russia Today. I thought I'd share it:
here's to all Eastern European fans! (Coratia;s more like Central Europe but whatever). Good luck to all of them, Czech Republic too. Not Poland though that would mean Croatia is out because it looks like Germany is going through.
National anthems and coverage starts at 11:50 ET on ESPN 2 or ESPN Classic. Good luck Russia! (I like Spain too but Russia deserves this as an underdog!). Stay tuned for the Greece-Sweden game at 2:45 pm. Go SWEDEN!!!!!
here's to all Eastern European fans! (Coratia;s more like Central Europe but whatever). Good luck to all of them, Czech Republic too. Not Poland though that would mean Croatia is out because it looks like Germany is going through.
National anthems and coverage starts at 11:50 ET on ESPN 2 or ESPN Classic. Good luck Russia! (I like Spain too but Russia deserves this as an underdog!). Stay tuned for the Greece-Sweden game at 2:45 pm. Go SWEDEN!!!!!
Monday, June 9, 2008
Euro 2008: Group D Predictions and Overview
Most people say Group C is the "group of death" and it definitely is. This is fact and I do not protest it, but while Group C is the toughest, the teams in Group D (which will open tomorrow) is not an easy one either. This group contains an overrated but still very good Spanish side, a Sweden team that many people seem to look down on, a Russian side that qualified in the slimmest of margins while in qualifying group that included Croatia, England, and an Israel team that refused to go down without a fight to the bitter end even though there was no chance for them qualify; and who am i forgetting?????? oh yeah, Euro Cup defending champions Greece.
Even though the cup already started, I will still do my group analysis for this group.
Tuesday June 10
Spain 1
Russia 1
Most people don't see Russia winning this one but with Dutch coach Guus Hiddink on their side anything can happen. Arguably the best coach in the world atleast think so, Hindink coached his native Netherlands to a 4th place finish at the 1998 World Cup losing to Croatia in the third place match. He then moved on to South Korea taking the hosts of the 2002 World Cup to the same position. Hiddink once again moved to Australia for the 2006 World Cup coaching the Aussies into a World Cup for the first time in more than 20 years after breaking the Aussie curse by defeating Uruguay in an extremely tough intercontinental qualifying two-legged series that went to penalty kicks. As coach of Russia, Hiddink (who has admitted to the Russians that he has never taken a sip of alcohol in his life) made a promise to the Russian players that if they qualified he will take his first sip of vodka and stay with the team and coach them in their Road to Vienna for the Final. When he made this promise, he probably had doubts because this is exactly what happened as Croatia defeating England sending Russia in their place. Sorry I can't get any proof of this deal Hiddink made with his team because I just read it passing. Anyway, the Russians can definitely give the Spaniards some trouble and the tie it 1-1. They have the talent.
Greece 2
Sweden 2
Defending champions Greece were extremely lucky in 2004. They were complete underdogs and no body considered them as a threat, but this time, many teams will be ready for Greece and will be able to stop them from making a repeat performance despite ending with the best record in Europe during qualifying. However, Greece is still a very good team that can do some damage which is why I think that they will end in tight but a high scoring game against the underrated Swedes.
Based on these prediction, at the end of day 1 of Group D (the final group before we end the first round of the group stage), all four teams will be in a tie with 1 point. However, Sweden and Greece will be at the top because they both scored 2 goals (more than Spain and Russia's one goal. In order to break the tie between Sweden and Greece, fair play will probably be considered and therefore they will probably look at number of red and yellow cards. Greece plays rather dirty most of the time so I cannot see them do well against Sweden without playing rough. Therefore, I would say that Sweden will be left on top, with greece in second place, Spain will be third while Russia fourth (also due to fair play).
Saturday June 14
Sweden 0
Spain 0
Both teams a very good, but I tend to look at Spain as somewhat overrated while Sweden seems to be somewhat underrated and not given credit. They play very well in my opinion. I think that this one will also end in a stalemate. 0-0 is my prediction.
Greece 1
Russia 2
Something tells me that Russia will do very well in this match despite recent successes from the Greeks. Ever since Guus Hiddink has taken the helm, there have been nothing but positive results from the Russians. I don't think the Russians will escape without one goal conceded but I still think that can take three points out of this one to put themselves at the top of the group.
Wednesday June 18
Spain 3
Greece 1
This is wear Greece will get destroyed by at least two goals or more. While I can't see Greece not scoring at least one against Spain, I can't see them taking even a point out of this one. With the situation that I created for Spain in my predictions, the Spaniards will fear for their Euro Cup lives and will fight every 90 minutes to qualify for the quarterfinals. They will not allow a loss.
Russia 0
Sweden 0
This will be an important match for the Euro 2008 future of both of these teams. Both teams will need a desperate win especially Sweden, but I don't will be able to overcome the pressure. Hiddink's team will be more relaxed because they would be in a good position to progress. I say it will be a scoreless match.
Based on my prediction, this how the standings will look in Group D:
1. Spain 5 points (tiebreaker: +2 goal difference)
2. Russia 5 points (tiebreaker: +1 goal difference)
3. Sweden 3 points
4. Greece 1 point
While Sweden is a good team and will probably end up spoiling a straight out group topper for Russia and Spain forcing them to separate their tie with goal difference, I don't really think their good enough to qualify with the like of Russia. Howver, being a spoiler, they will tie every team and even Greek team that they probably should win against but will probably lose because I see the Swedes messing against a team like Greece.
Even though most of my predictions are not correct for the first round games so far, I think my prediction for those qualifying for the quarterfinals are more or less correct (so far) based on how the actual scores went so far. Since this will not spoil any of my qualifying prediction, I will still do quarterfinal predictions as well based on my own predictions (not the actual teams who qualify). I will make adjustments as I go along.
In addition, I will also post in the near future, my own top 16 rankings for Europe (in other words, who I really think is the best in Europe considering recent friendlies and this tournament as well as all qualifiers).
Even though the cup already started, I will still do my group analysis for this group.
Tuesday June 10
Spain 1
Russia 1
Most people don't see Russia winning this one but with Dutch coach Guus Hiddink on their side anything can happen. Arguably the best coach in the world atleast think so, Hindink coached his native Netherlands to a 4th place finish at the 1998 World Cup losing to Croatia in the third place match. He then moved on to South Korea taking the hosts of the 2002 World Cup to the same position. Hiddink once again moved to Australia for the 2006 World Cup coaching the Aussies into a World Cup for the first time in more than 20 years after breaking the Aussie curse by defeating Uruguay in an extremely tough intercontinental qualifying two-legged series that went to penalty kicks. As coach of Russia, Hiddink (who has admitted to the Russians that he has never taken a sip of alcohol in his life) made a promise to the Russian players that if they qualified he will take his first sip of vodka and stay with the team and coach them in their Road to Vienna for the Final. When he made this promise, he probably had doubts because this is exactly what happened as Croatia defeating England sending Russia in their place. Sorry I can't get any proof of this deal Hiddink made with his team because I just read it passing. Anyway, the Russians can definitely give the Spaniards some trouble and the tie it 1-1. They have the talent.
Greece 2
Sweden 2
Defending champions Greece were extremely lucky in 2004. They were complete underdogs and no body considered them as a threat, but this time, many teams will be ready for Greece and will be able to stop them from making a repeat performance despite ending with the best record in Europe during qualifying. However, Greece is still a very good team that can do some damage which is why I think that they will end in tight but a high scoring game against the underrated Swedes.
Based on these prediction, at the end of day 1 of Group D (the final group before we end the first round of the group stage), all four teams will be in a tie with 1 point. However, Sweden and Greece will be at the top because they both scored 2 goals (more than Spain and Russia's one goal. In order to break the tie between Sweden and Greece, fair play will probably be considered and therefore they will probably look at number of red and yellow cards. Greece plays rather dirty most of the time so I cannot see them do well against Sweden without playing rough. Therefore, I would say that Sweden will be left on top, with greece in second place, Spain will be third while Russia fourth (also due to fair play).
Saturday June 14
Sweden 0
Spain 0
Both teams a very good, but I tend to look at Spain as somewhat overrated while Sweden seems to be somewhat underrated and not given credit. They play very well in my opinion. I think that this one will also end in a stalemate. 0-0 is my prediction.
Greece 1
Russia 2
Something tells me that Russia will do very well in this match despite recent successes from the Greeks. Ever since Guus Hiddink has taken the helm, there have been nothing but positive results from the Russians. I don't think the Russians will escape without one goal conceded but I still think that can take three points out of this one to put themselves at the top of the group.
Wednesday June 18
Spain 3
Greece 1
This is wear Greece will get destroyed by at least two goals or more. While I can't see Greece not scoring at least one against Spain, I can't see them taking even a point out of this one. With the situation that I created for Spain in my predictions, the Spaniards will fear for their Euro Cup lives and will fight every 90 minutes to qualify for the quarterfinals. They will not allow a loss.
Russia 0
Sweden 0
This will be an important match for the Euro 2008 future of both of these teams. Both teams will need a desperate win especially Sweden, but I don't will be able to overcome the pressure. Hiddink's team will be more relaxed because they would be in a good position to progress. I say it will be a scoreless match.
Based on my prediction, this how the standings will look in Group D:
1. Spain 5 points (tiebreaker: +2 goal difference)
2. Russia 5 points (tiebreaker: +1 goal difference)
3. Sweden 3 points
4. Greece 1 point
While Sweden is a good team and will probably end up spoiling a straight out group topper for Russia and Spain forcing them to separate their tie with goal difference, I don't really think their good enough to qualify with the like of Russia. Howver, being a spoiler, they will tie every team and even Greek team that they probably should win against but will probably lose because I see the Swedes messing against a team like Greece.
Even though most of my predictions are not correct for the first round games so far, I think my prediction for those qualifying for the quarterfinals are more or less correct (so far) based on how the actual scores went so far. Since this will not spoil any of my qualifying prediction, I will still do quarterfinal predictions as well based on my own predictions (not the actual teams who qualify). I will make adjustments as I go along.
In addition, I will also post in the near future, my own top 16 rankings for Europe (in other words, who I really think is the best in Europe considering recent friendlies and this tournament as well as all qualifiers).
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Euro 2008 Predictions: Group C (The Group of Death)
Even thought he final stages of Euro 2008 have already begun, I am still going to give my predictions for the remaining groups I have not done yet (C and D) as well as the quarterfinals, semifinals, and final based on my predictions of the group stages. The predictions for one of the two group A matches played was wrong but the teams that will move forward I feel will still move forward so that should not affect anything.
With that said, Group C was very tough group to predict. The groups contains Romania, France, Italy, and Netherlands All of these teams (minus Romania are considered European powerhouses and have each won the Euro crown at least once already) and therefore I feel extremely sorry for Romania. They are in an absolutely rotten group. However, I think all of these powerhouses are overated especially France and Italy so this is going to be interesting.
Monday June 9
Romania 1
France 2
France should win this one with no contest, but Romania could cause a little trouble by keeping the score tight throughout the match. Not much else to say here.
Netherlands 2
Italy 3
This is going to be a close match since both are very good teams. However, the Dutch seemed to have been sleeping lately and I remain unconvinced that they are still a powerhouse. The Dutch should keep it tight throughout however. I hope I'm wrong because I never liked the Italian team and do not want them to win this Euro Cup. However, I would love it if italy was the team that Croatia faces should they make to the final. Italy has never won against Croatia. The best they have done was a tie.
At the end of the first round of Group C matches, Italy and France would be tied for 1st and 2nd with 3 points and a goal difference of +1. Italy wins the tiebreaker because Italy had scored 3 goals while France has scored 2 against their opponent. Netherlands and Romania would have no points and a -1 goal difference. The tie breaker would be won by Netherlands who had scored 2 goals versus Romania's 1 leaving Romania in last place.
Friday June 13
Italy 3
Romania 1
I don't think Italy should have any problems with this one. They will definitely win it but the score I just made up.
Netherlands 0
France 0
These two overrated teams seem to be lacking something lately. A scoreless tie seems to be the most likely result in a match against each other.
At the end of the second round of Group C matches, Italy will continue their streak and take 6 points making it clearer who will win the group. France will have 4 points in total while the Netherlands will have only 1. Romania will remain winless with no points at all.
Tuesday June 17
Netherlands 1
Romania 1
Netherlands seems to be the only team Romania can match with pretty well. They were in the same group for the qualifying stage and Romania actually the advantage over the Netherlands in the two matches coming out 4 points in total against Dutch (one 1-0 win and 1 scoreless tie. Based on my predictions, Romania will not be able to qualify for the quarterfinals but will be able to destroy any hopes Netherlands has of doing so.
France 2
Italy 2
It seems as if Italy and France cannot avoid each other. They played against each other in the 2006 World Cup final which Italy obviously won then they played each other two more times in Euro 2008 qualifying (their first match was a scoreless tie). However, I think this time both teams will be ready to do some damage in this bitter rivalry. France will most likely only need a point to qualify but they are definitely going to want more against Italy. This is going to be a good match for the UEFA history books.
When all is said and done, Italy would be the group winner with 7 points. france will qualify as runner-up with 5 while Netherlands (2 pts) and Romania (1 pt) would be eliminated.
This, in my opinion, will be the most interesting group at the Cup. I wish Romania and Netherlands would be the ones to move on as I hate Italy and France with a passion, but it just does not seem possible.
With that said, Group C was very tough group to predict. The groups contains Romania, France, Italy, and Netherlands All of these teams (minus Romania are considered European powerhouses and have each won the Euro crown at least once already) and therefore I feel extremely sorry for Romania. They are in an absolutely rotten group. However, I think all of these powerhouses are overated especially France and Italy so this is going to be interesting.
Monday June 9
Romania 1
France 2
France should win this one with no contest, but Romania could cause a little trouble by keeping the score tight throughout the match. Not much else to say here.
Netherlands 2
Italy 3
This is going to be a close match since both are very good teams. However, the Dutch seemed to have been sleeping lately and I remain unconvinced that they are still a powerhouse. The Dutch should keep it tight throughout however. I hope I'm wrong because I never liked the Italian team and do not want them to win this Euro Cup. However, I would love it if italy was the team that Croatia faces should they make to the final. Italy has never won against Croatia. The best they have done was a tie.
At the end of the first round of Group C matches, Italy and France would be tied for 1st and 2nd with 3 points and a goal difference of +1. Italy wins the tiebreaker because Italy had scored 3 goals while France has scored 2 against their opponent. Netherlands and Romania would have no points and a -1 goal difference. The tie breaker would be won by Netherlands who had scored 2 goals versus Romania's 1 leaving Romania in last place.
Friday June 13
Italy 3
Romania 1
I don't think Italy should have any problems with this one. They will definitely win it but the score I just made up.
Netherlands 0
France 0
These two overrated teams seem to be lacking something lately. A scoreless tie seems to be the most likely result in a match against each other.
At the end of the second round of Group C matches, Italy will continue their streak and take 6 points making it clearer who will win the group. France will have 4 points in total while the Netherlands will have only 1. Romania will remain winless with no points at all.
Tuesday June 17
Netherlands 1
Romania 1
Netherlands seems to be the only team Romania can match with pretty well. They were in the same group for the qualifying stage and Romania actually the advantage over the Netherlands in the two matches coming out 4 points in total against Dutch (one 1-0 win and 1 scoreless tie. Based on my predictions, Romania will not be able to qualify for the quarterfinals but will be able to destroy any hopes Netherlands has of doing so.
France 2
Italy 2
It seems as if Italy and France cannot avoid each other. They played against each other in the 2006 World Cup final which Italy obviously won then they played each other two more times in Euro 2008 qualifying (their first match was a scoreless tie). However, I think this time both teams will be ready to do some damage in this bitter rivalry. France will most likely only need a point to qualify but they are definitely going to want more against Italy. This is going to be a good match for the UEFA history books.
When all is said and done, Italy would be the group winner with 7 points. france will qualify as runner-up with 5 while Netherlands (2 pts) and Romania (1 pt) would be eliminated.
This, in my opinion, will be the most interesting group at the Cup. I wish Romania and Netherlands would be the ones to move on as I hate Italy and France with a passion, but it just does not seem possible.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Euro 2008 Update: Round 1 of Group A Matches in the Books
Euro 2008 has finally begun and Group A has completed its first round of matches.
In this post, I'm just going to go through my predictions for Group A and see if they were correct in addition to analyzing the match a little bit and see what each team has to do correctly in order to progress throughout the rest of the group stage.
Switzerland vs Czech Republic: The co-host fought against the Czech Republic quite nicely despite the fact that they lost and kept the score low even though they did not score at all. I found it quite interesting that Switzerland actually had way more shots on goal that the Czech Republic who had only one shot on goal and that was the one that found the back of the net. Czech Republic was lucky but Switzerland deserved a tie and point in this match. If they can keep this up, they can cause Turkey and Portugal a few problems even though they will probably lose these matches.
My Prediction: 1-0 Czech Republic win
Actual result: 1-0 Czech republic win (man, do I wish I signed up for some kind of prediction contest, but my prediction for the next match in Group A was quite off)
The second of the day was between Turkey and Portugal. This match was actually quite boring and one sided and I didn't even pay attention. Portugal was much better the struggling Turkish sided losing to the Portuguese.
My Prediction: 1-1 tie
Actual result: 2-0 Portugal win
Here is how the group standings look so far after today's matches:
1. Portugal 3 pts (tiebreaker: +2 goal difference)
2. Czech Republic 3 pts (tiebreaker: +1 goal difference)
3. Switzerland 0 pts (tiebreaker: -1 goal difference)
4. Turkey 0 pts (tiebreaker: -2 goal difference)
It is rather unfortunate that Turkey ended up opening their Euro 2008 campaign with a loss that puts them at the bottom of the standings. I guess it is just unlucky that they got Portugal at the beginning. I still think they are a fairly good team though.
When comparing today's standings to my prediction, my predictions are somewhat off, but the Czech Republic and Portugal are still on track to qualifying for the quarterfinals, and my prediction that Czech Republic will go forward with a perfect 3-0-0 record could still stand true. Their match Portugal will be extremely important on confirming this.
For more information regarding Group A, click here.
Tomorrow Group B matches will begin. Croatia will face co-hosts Austria then Poland will face a tough German side. I was supposed to go to the Bohemian Hall Beer Garden (a Czech bar and resturaunt in Astoria with some friends but the screens will be outside in the garden and I think it will be way too hot to watch it outside and inside--it would be kind of stupid if they didn't have tv's--there is probably going to be way too many people so I'm going to pass on it. Check the website for times ( eastern time is 6 hours back) and all matches are live on ESPN 2 or ESPN Classic.
If Croatia loses against Austria, they might as well as pack up go home tomorrow, but they should be okay. The Austrians are so embarrassed about their team that they were requesting their football federation to withdraw their team from the tournament (and these are the hosts...lol). I heard that one Austrian man is so embarrassed that he locked his wife and children in the basement because he didn't want them to see the matches.
GO HRVATSKA/CROATIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In this post, I'm just going to go through my predictions for Group A and see if they were correct in addition to analyzing the match a little bit and see what each team has to do correctly in order to progress throughout the rest of the group stage.
Switzerland vs Czech Republic: The co-host fought against the Czech Republic quite nicely despite the fact that they lost and kept the score low even though they did not score at all. I found it quite interesting that Switzerland actually had way more shots on goal that the Czech Republic who had only one shot on goal and that was the one that found the back of the net. Czech Republic was lucky but Switzerland deserved a tie and point in this match. If they can keep this up, they can cause Turkey and Portugal a few problems even though they will probably lose these matches.
My Prediction: 1-0 Czech Republic win
Actual result: 1-0 Czech republic win (man, do I wish I signed up for some kind of prediction contest, but my prediction for the next match in Group A was quite off)
The second of the day was between Turkey and Portugal. This match was actually quite boring and one sided and I didn't even pay attention. Portugal was much better the struggling Turkish sided losing to the Portuguese.
My Prediction: 1-1 tie
Actual result: 2-0 Portugal win
Here is how the group standings look so far after today's matches:
1. Portugal 3 pts (tiebreaker: +2 goal difference)
2. Czech Republic 3 pts (tiebreaker: +1 goal difference)
3. Switzerland 0 pts (tiebreaker: -1 goal difference)
4. Turkey 0 pts (tiebreaker: -2 goal difference)
It is rather unfortunate that Turkey ended up opening their Euro 2008 campaign with a loss that puts them at the bottom of the standings. I guess it is just unlucky that they got Portugal at the beginning. I still think they are a fairly good team though.
When comparing today's standings to my prediction, my predictions are somewhat off, but the Czech Republic and Portugal are still on track to qualifying for the quarterfinals, and my prediction that Czech Republic will go forward with a perfect 3-0-0 record could still stand true. Their match Portugal will be extremely important on confirming this.
For more information regarding Group A, click here.
Tomorrow Group B matches will begin. Croatia will face co-hosts Austria then Poland will face a tough German side. I was supposed to go to the Bohemian Hall Beer Garden (a Czech bar and resturaunt in Astoria with some friends but the screens will be outside in the garden and I think it will be way too hot to watch it outside and inside--it would be kind of stupid if they didn't have tv's--there is probably going to be way too many people so I'm going to pass on it. Check the website for times ( eastern time is 6 hours back) and all matches are live on ESPN 2 or ESPN Classic.
If Croatia loses against Austria, they might as well as pack up go home tomorrow, but they should be okay. The Austrians are so embarrassed about their team that they were requesting their football federation to withdraw their team from the tournament (and these are the hosts...lol). I heard that one Austrian man is so embarrassed that he locked his wife and children in the basement because he didn't want them to see the matches.
GO HRVATSKA/CROATIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Euro 2008 is finally here!!!
The Euro 2008 Finals are finally among us and one match is already in the books (a 1-0 Czech Republic win against co-host Switzerland). More about the match a little bit later. In this post, I want to talk a little bit about the opening ceremony.
The theme of this year's opening ceremony was that of co-hosts Switzerland and Austria's roots. It took place at St. Jakob-Park in Basel, Switzerland just before kickoff against the Czech republic. The display presented, according to UEFA's official Euro 2008 website, was meant to portray a combination of "various elements" which include the heritage of host countries, sport and culture, and the values of fair play, respect, and the "joy of football. The show was 13 minutes long and featured 1,000 performers of different nationalities and ranged from ages 14 to 70.
Many VIPs and "royal guests" were present at the ceremony including Prince Albert of Monaco and Prince Alois of Liechtenstein. The European Union was represented by Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission.
President of the Swiss Confederation Pascal Couchepin was also in attendene with Czech Republic's Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Alandr Vondra. The Austrian co-host was represented at the opener by President Heinz Fischer and Chancellor Alfred and Gusenbauer. Austria will have their own opener against Croatia tomorrow at noon (I will probably be going to the Bohemian Hall Beer Garden in Astoria for that game). GO HRVATSKA/CROATIA!!!!!
For more information regarding the opening ceremony, check out this article.
The theme of this year's opening ceremony was that of co-hosts Switzerland and Austria's roots. It took place at St. Jakob-Park in Basel, Switzerland just before kickoff against the Czech republic. The display presented, according to UEFA's official Euro 2008 website, was meant to portray a combination of "various elements" which include the heritage of host countries, sport and culture, and the values of fair play, respect, and the "joy of football. The show was 13 minutes long and featured 1,000 performers of different nationalities and ranged from ages 14 to 70.
Many VIPs and "royal guests" were present at the ceremony including Prince Albert of Monaco and Prince Alois of Liechtenstein. The European Union was represented by Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission.
President of the Swiss Confederation Pascal Couchepin was also in attendene with Czech Republic's Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Alandr Vondra. The Austrian co-host was represented at the opener by President Heinz Fischer and Chancellor Alfred and Gusenbauer. Austria will have their own opener against Croatia tomorrow at noon (I will probably be going to the Bohemian Hall Beer Garden in Astoria for that game). GO HRVATSKA/CROATIA!!!!!
For more information regarding the opening ceremony, check out this article.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Euro 2008 Predictions: Group A
In this post, I will talk a little bit about Group A of the Euro 2008 Finals which will start this Saturday. The teams in this group are Czech Republic, Portugal, Turkey, and Switzerland.
Here are my predictions for this group as well as the final standings should by predictions be correct.
Saturday June 7
Switzerland 0
Czech Republic 1
Czech Republic can definitely win this match for sure. Switzerland has made it to Euro 2004 but did not it make to the quarterfinals. However, they did play a part in spoiling Croatia's chances to advance tying them 0-0 so I don't think Czech Republic will embarrass Switzerland with multiple goals but I don't think Switzerland will be able to win this one either.
Portugal 1
Turkey 1
I don't care what anyone says about Turkey. They are not easy team. Yes, they have fallen behind a little bit since their 2002 World Cup third place finish, but I think they can give Portugal some trouble. I predict a 1-1 tie in this one.
Withe above results, day one will end with the Czech Republic at the top of the standings with 3 points. Portugal and Turkey will be tied with 1 point while Switzerland would be at the bottom.
Wednesday June 11
Czech Republic 3
Portugal 2
This will be a tough match for both teams, but recently the Czech Republic has been amazing after beating Germany in the qualifying round. Don't get me wrong, Portugal is no easy team either, but I think that the match will seem to end in a 2-2 tie, but as Portugal starts to let their guards down a little bit and settle for a tie, I think the Czechs will score a last minute game winner making 3-2
Switzerland 0
Turkey 0
Switzerland will spoil at least one team's chances and I think that team will be Turkey. Turkey will have several chances but I think it will end in a scoreless tie that would set the Turks back in their quest to qualify for the quarterfinals.
Sunday June 15
Switzerland 1
Portugal 3
I don't see Switzerland winning against Portugal at all and I don't home field advantage will help them either. Portugal (I think) will also win with at least a 2 goal difference.
Turkey 1
Czech Republic 2
According to my prediction, Czech Republic would have won two their three group matches and their match against Turkey will not be any different. Czech Republic is looking for a repeat performance of Euro 2004 in which they topped their group with a 3-0-0 record and I feel that they can do the same here. However, Turkey is not an easy team to defeat and they will not go down without a fight since they will fighting against elimination since it is this match that will make the difference. Turkey will definitely score at least one goal but Czech Republic will take the 3 points to continue their perfect record in the group stage.
Here is how the final standings will look according to my predictions.
1. Czech republic 9 pts (3 wins)
2. Portugal 4 pts (1 win, 1 tie, 1 loss)
3. Turkey 2 pts (2 ties, 1 loss)
4. Switzerland 1 pt (1 tie, 2 losses)
According to these prediction, Czech Republic will have to play my predicted Group B runner-up (Croatia) and Portugal will have to play my predicted Group B winner (Germany). These two quarterfinals will be extremely tough for both teams.
Here are my predictions for this group as well as the final standings should by predictions be correct.
Saturday June 7
Switzerland 0
Czech Republic 1
Czech Republic can definitely win this match for sure. Switzerland has made it to Euro 2004 but did not it make to the quarterfinals. However, they did play a part in spoiling Croatia's chances to advance tying them 0-0 so I don't think Czech Republic will embarrass Switzerland with multiple goals but I don't think Switzerland will be able to win this one either.
Portugal 1
Turkey 1
I don't care what anyone says about Turkey. They are not easy team. Yes, they have fallen behind a little bit since their 2002 World Cup third place finish, but I think they can give Portugal some trouble. I predict a 1-1 tie in this one.
Withe above results, day one will end with the Czech Republic at the top of the standings with 3 points. Portugal and Turkey will be tied with 1 point while Switzerland would be at the bottom.
Wednesday June 11
Czech Republic 3
Portugal 2
This will be a tough match for both teams, but recently the Czech Republic has been amazing after beating Germany in the qualifying round. Don't get me wrong, Portugal is no easy team either, but I think that the match will seem to end in a 2-2 tie, but as Portugal starts to let their guards down a little bit and settle for a tie, I think the Czechs will score a last minute game winner making 3-2
Switzerland 0
Turkey 0
Switzerland will spoil at least one team's chances and I think that team will be Turkey. Turkey will have several chances but I think it will end in a scoreless tie that would set the Turks back in their quest to qualify for the quarterfinals.
Sunday June 15
Switzerland 1
Portugal 3
I don't see Switzerland winning against Portugal at all and I don't home field advantage will help them either. Portugal (I think) will also win with at least a 2 goal difference.
Turkey 1
Czech Republic 2
According to my prediction, Czech Republic would have won two their three group matches and their match against Turkey will not be any different. Czech Republic is looking for a repeat performance of Euro 2004 in which they topped their group with a 3-0-0 record and I feel that they can do the same here. However, Turkey is not an easy team to defeat and they will not go down without a fight since they will fighting against elimination since it is this match that will make the difference. Turkey will definitely score at least one goal but Czech Republic will take the 3 points to continue their perfect record in the group stage.
Here is how the final standings will look according to my predictions.
1. Czech republic 9 pts (3 wins)
2. Portugal 4 pts (1 win, 1 tie, 1 loss)
3. Turkey 2 pts (2 ties, 1 loss)
4. Switzerland 1 pt (1 tie, 2 losses)
According to these prediction, Czech Republic will have to play my predicted Group B runner-up (Croatia) and Portugal will have to play my predicted Group B winner (Germany). These two quarterfinals will be extremely tough for both teams.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Euro 2008 Predictions: Group B (Croatia's group)
The final stages of the Euro 2008 tournament will begin on Saturday in Switzerland as co-host Switzerland opens the tournament in Group A.
Group B matches will begin on Sunday with Croatia and co-host Austria starting the day's matches off. The other group B match will be between Germany and Poland.
Being that Croatia is in Group B and will give my predictions for this group in this post:
Sunday June 8th
Austria 0
Croatia 2
I can't see Croatia having too many problems against Austria. This ones should be fairly easy despite Austria's home field advantage. Austria has been struggling lately and has not yet made it into a major tournament like Euro Cup. The only reason why they qualified for this tournament is because they are co-hosting with Switzerland. I see two problems here: 1) UEFA should not allow co-hosts; and 2) they should not allow weaker teams to host because this would give them automatic qualification while other good teams miss out. Luckily, Croatia has "cupcake" match to look forward to start things off after some pretty bad friendly warmups. They tied 1-1 against Hungary in there most recent friendly warmup--a match that should have been a 1-0 win but one Croatian player scored an own goal for Hungary tying it up. I don't think this will happen in the tournament, however, and Croatia should be able to pocket 3 points in this one.
Germany 2
Poland 1
I don't care what anyone says: Poland is not an easy team. However, Germany is even better. Poland does have the players that can stop this one from being an embarrassment though and the Polish should be able to score at least one goal against Germany.
With these results, day 1 for group B should end well for Croatia and will see Croatia at the top of the group with 3 points tied with Germany who loses the tiebreaker with a +1 goal difference vs Croatia +2
Thursday June 12
Croatia 1
Germany 1
Phew! One day away from Friday the 13th. haha. Anyway, this one should be tougher for Croatia, but I can't see them losing against Germany since the Germans were struggling against Serbia in their last friendly for a good portion of the first half. Germany did win it 2-1 but I can't see a stronger Croatian side allowing the same goals that Serbia did. Both teams should come away with a point in this one.
Austria 1
Poland 2
Again, I don't see Austria winning this one. Poland will win this one 2-1.
With these results, the second round of group b matches will end with Croatia at the top again tied with Germany at 4 points. Being that Croatia and Germany would have tied 1-1 according to my prediction, Croatia would have one the tiebreaker once again with a +2 goal difference vs Germany's +1. Poland would have won their first match and received 3 points while Austria has 0.
Monday June 16
This would be judgement day for the Group B teams. Let's see what the final standings will be according to my predictions.
Poland 1
Croatia 1
Croatia always messes up in at least one match and I think this will be that match. Croatia will underestimate Poland and will not getting anything more than a tie. Poland will need a win in order to progress and will come out ready. However, Croatia fearing elimination if Poland did win and Germany beats Austria (according to the situation I created) will also be ready. This will probably end a 1-1 tie that will qualify Croatia for the quarterfinals but will mess up there chance of winning of the group if Germany defeats Austria which I think they will.
Austria 1
Germany 3
This one shouldn't be too hard for Germany and not too be analysis to be given. This should be an automatic 3 points for the team from Deustchland!
With the above results, the group would have ended as follows:
1. Germany 7 points (2 win, 1 tie)
2. Croatia 5 points (1 win, 2 ties)
3. Poland 4 points (1 win, 1 tie, 1 loss)
4. Austria 0 points (3 losses)
Therefore, Germany and Croatia will qualify for the quarterfinals where Germany will play the second place team in Group A and Croatia will play the first place team in Group A.
Group A and other group predictions will be posted as soon as possible.
Check out the official Euro 2008 website for more information.
Group B matches will begin on Sunday with Croatia and co-host Austria starting the day's matches off. The other group B match will be between Germany and Poland.
Being that Croatia is in Group B and will give my predictions for this group in this post:
Sunday June 8th
Austria 0
Croatia 2
I can't see Croatia having too many problems against Austria. This ones should be fairly easy despite Austria's home field advantage. Austria has been struggling lately and has not yet made it into a major tournament like Euro Cup. The only reason why they qualified for this tournament is because they are co-hosting with Switzerland. I see two problems here: 1) UEFA should not allow co-hosts; and 2) they should not allow weaker teams to host because this would give them automatic qualification while other good teams miss out. Luckily, Croatia has "cupcake" match to look forward to start things off after some pretty bad friendly warmups. They tied 1-1 against Hungary in there most recent friendly warmup--a match that should have been a 1-0 win but one Croatian player scored an own goal for Hungary tying it up. I don't think this will happen in the tournament, however, and Croatia should be able to pocket 3 points in this one.
Germany 2
Poland 1
I don't care what anyone says: Poland is not an easy team. However, Germany is even better. Poland does have the players that can stop this one from being an embarrassment though and the Polish should be able to score at least one goal against Germany.
With these results, day 1 for group B should end well for Croatia and will see Croatia at the top of the group with 3 points tied with Germany who loses the tiebreaker with a +1 goal difference vs Croatia +2
Thursday June 12
Croatia 1
Germany 1
Phew! One day away from Friday the 13th. haha. Anyway, this one should be tougher for Croatia, but I can't see them losing against Germany since the Germans were struggling against Serbia in their last friendly for a good portion of the first half. Germany did win it 2-1 but I can't see a stronger Croatian side allowing the same goals that Serbia did. Both teams should come away with a point in this one.
Austria 1
Poland 2
Again, I don't see Austria winning this one. Poland will win this one 2-1.
With these results, the second round of group b matches will end with Croatia at the top again tied with Germany at 4 points. Being that Croatia and Germany would have tied 1-1 according to my prediction, Croatia would have one the tiebreaker once again with a +2 goal difference vs Germany's +1. Poland would have won their first match and received 3 points while Austria has 0.
Monday June 16
This would be judgement day for the Group B teams. Let's see what the final standings will be according to my predictions.
Poland 1
Croatia 1
Croatia always messes up in at least one match and I think this will be that match. Croatia will underestimate Poland and will not getting anything more than a tie. Poland will need a win in order to progress and will come out ready. However, Croatia fearing elimination if Poland did win and Germany beats Austria (according to the situation I created) will also be ready. This will probably end a 1-1 tie that will qualify Croatia for the quarterfinals but will mess up there chance of winning of the group if Germany defeats Austria which I think they will.
Austria 1
Germany 3
This one shouldn't be too hard for Germany and not too be analysis to be given. This should be an automatic 3 points for the team from Deustchland!
With the above results, the group would have ended as follows:
1. Germany 7 points (2 win, 1 tie)
2. Croatia 5 points (1 win, 2 ties)
3. Poland 4 points (1 win, 1 tie, 1 loss)
4. Austria 0 points (3 losses)
Therefore, Germany and Croatia will qualify for the quarterfinals where Germany will play the second place team in Group A and Croatia will play the first place team in Group A.
Group A and other group predictions will be posted as soon as possible.
Check out the official Euro 2008 website for more information.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Kurtmac's Euro 2008 Predictions Video
Just thought I'd share this video. Here is fellow youtuber Kurtmac's pre-Euro 2008 video.
I haven't really looked at or analyzed each of the groups very closely except for Croatia's group and when I do, I will have definitely have my predictions in a future post. As Kurt says, Romania's group is definitely the "group of death". Netherlands. Italy, and France are all past cup winners and have fantastic teams. However, I have to disagree and say that it will be France not Netherlands to qualify out of this group although I like Netherlands a lot better than France. The rest of the groups I will talk about in a future post.
The only other thing I'm going to say now is that I hope Greece and Italy do not win it. It is not easy being a Croatia supporter in my neighborhood with Greeks and Italians as my neighbors. I was in Croatia when Greece won Euro 2004 so it didn't bother me then (my Croatian friend who lives in East Elmhurst--near Astoria, Queens was saying that the Greeks wouldn't stop rubbing it in and it pissed him off even more because it was on the 4th of July), but when the Italians won the 2006 World Cup, you can hear them beeping on Francis Lewis Blvd (two blocks away from me) and they wouldn't quit until midnight. Some of the people have never watched a soccer match a day in their life, they watch the final between Italy and France then think they know everything about soccer screaming out "Forza Italia" before the match. Let me stop there because I'm starting to rant.
I haven't really looked at or analyzed each of the groups very closely except for Croatia's group and when I do, I will have definitely have my predictions in a future post. As Kurt says, Romania's group is definitely the "group of death". Netherlands. Italy, and France are all past cup winners and have fantastic teams. However, I have to disagree and say that it will be France not Netherlands to qualify out of this group although I like Netherlands a lot better than France. The rest of the groups I will talk about in a future post.
The only other thing I'm going to say now is that I hope Greece and Italy do not win it. It is not easy being a Croatia supporter in my neighborhood with Greeks and Italians as my neighbors. I was in Croatia when Greece won Euro 2004 so it didn't bother me then (my Croatian friend who lives in East Elmhurst--near Astoria, Queens was saying that the Greeks wouldn't stop rubbing it in and it pissed him off even more because it was on the 4th of July), but when the Italians won the 2006 World Cup, you can hear them beeping on Francis Lewis Blvd (two blocks away from me) and they wouldn't quit until midnight. Some of the people have never watched a soccer match a day in their life, they watch the final between Italy and France then think they know everything about soccer screaming out "Forza Italia" before the match. Let me stop there because I'm starting to rant.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Sydney Football Stadium Officials skip Ghana Anthem at the beginning of the Australia-Ghana friendly
Australian officials at the Sydney Football Stadium made a huge mistake accidentally misplacing Ghana's national anthem as the friendly between Ghana and Australia began on Friday night.
The incident took place at a horrible time for the Australian Football Association as they were preparing for the arrival of FIFA president Sepp Blatter who was due to arrive in Sydney on Friday night for next week's FIFA Congress. Australia was hosting the Congress in the hopes of introducing their bid to host the World Cup in 2018.
As a matter of fact, the plan was to play Ghana's anthem first but instead there was an awkward delay with no information being given regarding it. The Australian anthem then started to play. After it was over, the officials called for the players to shake hands causing Ghana supporters to complain in protest while the players looked around confused.
No reason was given for the mix up, but Ghana's anthem was played before the second half.
Here is a video from youtube of the incident.
In my opinion, this was a huge mistake on the part of Australia, and until they give a good and honest reason for the confusion, they should not be allowed to host the World Cup in 2018. Brazil has already been confirmed as hosts for 2014 after South Africa 2010.
Australia went on to defeat Ghana 1-0. Here is a youtube video of the goal.
The incident took place at a horrible time for the Australian Football Association as they were preparing for the arrival of FIFA president Sepp Blatter who was due to arrive in Sydney on Friday night for next week's FIFA Congress. Australia was hosting the Congress in the hopes of introducing their bid to host the World Cup in 2018.
As a matter of fact, the plan was to play Ghana's anthem first but instead there was an awkward delay with no information being given regarding it. The Australian anthem then started to play. After it was over, the officials called for the players to shake hands causing Ghana supporters to complain in protest while the players looked around confused.
No reason was given for the mix up, but Ghana's anthem was played before the second half.
Here is a video from youtube of the incident.
In my opinion, this was a huge mistake on the part of Australia, and until they give a good and honest reason for the confusion, they should not be allowed to host the World Cup in 2018. Brazil has already been confirmed as hosts for 2014 after South Africa 2010.
Australia went on to defeat Ghana 1-0. Here is a youtube video of the goal.
Russia destroys Kazakhstan 6-0 at home before leaving for the Euro 2008 Finals
The Russian national team said one last good bye to their fans with a 6-0 trashing of Kazakhstan at home before making there way to Germany for two friendlies against Serbia and Lithuania on their way to Switzerland and Austria for the actual tournament.
Here is a report from the Russia Today Channel on youtube.
Here is a report from the Russia Today Channel on youtube.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Klasnic decides to leave Bremen
According to this article, Croatia's Ivan Klasnic, who was recently in the news when he decided to sue his club's doctors after they failed to spot his failing kidney earlier which eventually led to surgery (see this post), has decided to leave Bremen, the club that he played for in Germany's Bundesliga since 2001. He did, however, have talks to extend his contract.
According to Bremen's director of sports Klaus Allofs, " We improved our offer once again, but Ivan unfortunately decided not to accept it." Allofs stated that he was expecting a "different outcome" being that he is a superb forward who has proved his class at the highest level, despite his kidney transplant."
The 28 year old striker does not yet have plans to join another club, but has been reported that Turkish side Besiktas is interested in signing him.
Slaven Bilic selected Klasnic to be part of Croatia Euro 2008 squad.
While playing for Bremen, Klasnic scored 49 goals in 150 Bundesliga matches.
According to Bremen's director of sports Klaus Allofs, " We improved our offer once again, but Ivan unfortunately decided not to accept it." Allofs stated that he was expecting a "different outcome" being that he is a superb forward who has proved his class at the highest level, despite his kidney transplant."
The 28 year old striker does not yet have plans to join another club, but has been reported that Turkish side Besiktas is interested in signing him.
Slaven Bilic selected Klasnic to be part of Croatia Euro 2008 squad.
While playing for Bremen, Klasnic scored 49 goals in 150 Bundesliga matches.
Another Croatian Band releases song dedicated to Euro 2008 Team
In the weeks leading to the Euro 2008 finals, Croatian bands will be releasing a slews of patriotic songs and music videos dedicated to Croatia and the national team. Here is the most recent I found on youtube from a band called Jole (pronounced Yo-Leh). The song is called Ja Te Volim Hrvatska (I Love You Croatia). Sorry, couldn't find any lyrics so I can translate. I don't know enough Croatian to translate the song directly after to listening. I need the lyrics, but here is the video. Basically (from my listening of it) the singer is calling on Croats from across Croatia (he names a few regions) as well Croats living in the county of Herceg-Bosna in Bosnia and Hercegovina to root for the national team. Here is the video:
First Group of English Football (soccer) fans arrive in Moscow for Champion's League Final
Fans of English Premier League champion Manchester United have recently arrived in Moscow to cheer their club to victory as they face Premier League rival Chelsea for the European Champions League. Here is a short news broadcast posted on youtube from Russia Today:
Since I don't follow the English Premier League or the European Champion's League too closely, I will be watching it. I will be rooting for Chelsea (only because I never really liked Manchester United--see kurtmac's youtube commentary to see why..He says it best!).
Since I don't follow the English Premier League or the European Champion's League too closely, I will be watching it. I will be rooting for Chelsea (only because I never really liked Manchester United--see kurtmac's youtube commentary to see why..He says it best!).
Friday, May 16, 2008
English Premier League Wrap-Up with Youtube User Kurtmac
Since I don't really follow the English Premier League too much, Kurt on youtube has become somewhat of my unofficial source for EPL news. Here is his EPL season wrap up video in which he voices frustration regarding Manchester United winning the title once again!
I also wanted to say that I agree with Kurt that something has to change in the English Premier to make it more competitive. Even though Major League Soccer does have salary caps (or at least last time I heard they did for most players. For players such as David Beckham, they do not...but anyway)...this is starting to become somewhat of a problem in MLS at well. Houston Dynamo has won the MLS Cup title for two seasons already although they are having a slow start this season. New England has made it to the MLS Cup (I think) about three or four years in a row already, and they are currently in the top three of the Eastern Conference standings with a 4-3-1 record.
I will update the MLS season more as it progresses.
I also wanted to say that I agree with Kurt that something has to change in the English Premier to make it more competitive. Even though Major League Soccer does have salary caps (or at least last time I heard they did for most players. For players such as David Beckham, they do not...but anyway)...this is starting to become somewhat of a problem in MLS at well. Houston Dynamo has won the MLS Cup title for two seasons already although they are having a slow start this season. New England has made it to the MLS Cup (I think) about three or four years in a row already, and they are currently in the top three of the Eastern Conference standings with a 4-3-1 record.
I will update the MLS season more as it progresses.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Zenit St. Petersburg wins UEFA Cup as fights break out in downtown Manchester
It may not be a Champion's League Trophy but at least it is something.
Russian club Zenit based in St. Petersburg won there first UEFA Cup in Manchester after a 2-0 win against Scotland's more well known Glasgow Rangers. Zenit is also the second club to win this competition in the last four years after CSKA Moscow won it in 2005. Moscow's win was the first time a Russian club has ever won a European title. Zenit eliminated big clubs from Germany's Bundesliga such as Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen in order to make it to the final. Former Russian prime minister Viktor Zubkov was at the match and celebrated the win with the players in the locker room, and Vladimir Putin called the coach to offer his congratulations.
The first goal was scored late in the match during the second half (at the 72nd minute). However, Zenit "scontrolled the game from the very beginning," according to Arshavin, a player on the team. "We attacked more. When we were were successful against our opponent's goal, I knew we would win," he added through a translator.
The second goal was scored in the final minutes of stoppage time leaving no time for a Rangers comeback.
Swedish referee Peter Frojdfedt started some controversy after not calling a handball against Rangers defener Kirk Broadfoot late in the first half, but another non-call against Zenit player Denisov evened things up. This seems to be a common practice among referees in soccer and it has to stop. Referees should call and give penalty kicks to all players who commit such actions. The same type of thing occurred in the Croatia-Australia match in the first round of the 2006 World Cup in which several handballs and some questionable off side goals were allowed.
The Rangers have not won a European Title since the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1972 when they defeated another Russian club--Dynamo Moscow.
Since the match was played in the home of English club Manchester City, attendance was mostly made of Scottish fans. In addition, more than 100,000 fans watched the game on giant screens in downtown Manchester.
Despite the loss, the Rangers were still hopeful. "We've had a terrific tournament," said the club's coach. "It doesn't take away the disappointment, but in the end I can have no complaints."
This match was not without fan violence which, sadly, had become all too common European matches. In one incident, a Russian fan was stabbed outside the stadium, according to police. His injuries were not severe, however, and six men were arrested. In addition, there were also "isolated pockets of disorder" which Manchester police blamed on excessive alcohol consumption. In another incident in downtown Manchester where fans were watching the match on giant screens, eight fans were arrested before the match even started. Violence also broke out when one screen broke down 15 minutes before kickoff. Most supporters were well-behaved before this, but when the screen broke down, they starts throwing beer bottles at it due to frustration. Council workers were not able to fix the screens which caused more fan frustrations. Despite arrangements to transport fans to a screening at a velodrome next to the stadium, a "significant minority" decided to stay and confronted police. Several police officers and fan were injured during the incident.
Watch this video which contains highlights of the match:
Russian club Zenit based in St. Petersburg won there first UEFA Cup in Manchester after a 2-0 win against Scotland's more well known Glasgow Rangers. Zenit is also the second club to win this competition in the last four years after CSKA Moscow won it in 2005. Moscow's win was the first time a Russian club has ever won a European title. Zenit eliminated big clubs from Germany's Bundesliga such as Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen in order to make it to the final. Former Russian prime minister Viktor Zubkov was at the match and celebrated the win with the players in the locker room, and Vladimir Putin called the coach to offer his congratulations.
The first goal was scored late in the match during the second half (at the 72nd minute). However, Zenit "scontrolled the game from the very beginning," according to Arshavin, a player on the team. "We attacked more. When we were were successful against our opponent's goal, I knew we would win," he added through a translator.
The second goal was scored in the final minutes of stoppage time leaving no time for a Rangers comeback.
Swedish referee Peter Frojdfedt started some controversy after not calling a handball against Rangers defener Kirk Broadfoot late in the first half, but another non-call against Zenit player Denisov evened things up. This seems to be a common practice among referees in soccer and it has to stop. Referees should call and give penalty kicks to all players who commit such actions. The same type of thing occurred in the Croatia-Australia match in the first round of the 2006 World Cup in which several handballs and some questionable off side goals were allowed.
The Rangers have not won a European Title since the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1972 when they defeated another Russian club--Dynamo Moscow.
Since the match was played in the home of English club Manchester City, attendance was mostly made of Scottish fans. In addition, more than 100,000 fans watched the game on giant screens in downtown Manchester.
Despite the loss, the Rangers were still hopeful. "We've had a terrific tournament," said the club's coach. "It doesn't take away the disappointment, but in the end I can have no complaints."
This match was not without fan violence which, sadly, had become all too common European matches. In one incident, a Russian fan was stabbed outside the stadium, according to police. His injuries were not severe, however, and six men were arrested. In addition, there were also "isolated pockets of disorder" which Manchester police blamed on excessive alcohol consumption. In another incident in downtown Manchester where fans were watching the match on giant screens, eight fans were arrested before the match even started. Violence also broke out when one screen broke down 15 minutes before kickoff. Most supporters were well-behaved before this, but when the screen broke down, they starts throwing beer bottles at it due to frustration. Council workers were not able to fix the screens which caused more fan frustrations. Despite arrangements to transport fans to a screening at a velodrome next to the stadium, a "significant minority" decided to stay and confronted police. Several police officers and fan were injured during the incident.
Watch this video which contains highlights of the match:
FC Barcelona to tour the US according to agreement with MLS
According to this article on the Sports Illustrated website, La Liga's FC Barcelona, recently coming out of Champions League semifinal loss against Manchester United, has made arrangements to tour the United States later this year as part of a "five year agreement with Major League Soccer signed Thursday that will have the two-time European champion play six games in America over the next half decade."
The last time Barca was in the United States was two years ago when they played against the New York Red Bulls at Giants Stadium in a friendly match in front of a sell out crowd of 70,002--which proves that when big star players come from other countries, Americans will watch (although a good portion of the people in attendance were either Hispanic, from Spain, or Brazilians who wanted to cheer on their own Ronaldhino who played for Barca at the time. Barcelona destroyed the Red Bulls 4-1. The attendance almost broke the record had there been three more tickets sold. Not even David Beckham drew this many people last summer. The one match that currently holds the #1 in attendance was a match between English Premier League's Manchester United and Italy Serie A's Juventus which took place in June 2003.
No dates were decided yet for Barcelona's 2008 matches in the United States. However, officials from Soccer United Marketing (the marketing arm of MLS) and FC Barcelona have stated that the contract will also include "the U.S. soccer league negotiating the club's sponsorship rights and handling the public relations and marketing in the United States." The dates of these matches will depend on UEFA's schedule for qualifying for the 2008-2009 Champion's League since Barcelona's recent bad season had forced them to have to go through qualification instead of getting a free ride to the group stage.
According to FC Barcelona vice chairman Soriano, the Spanish club wants a "global brand" and has admitted that the only way to reach this goal is to have a "permanent presence" in the United States. He also added: "maybe that permanent presence will mean a team here someday."
The idea of MLS clubs being owned by other clubs abroad is "not unprecedented: according to the Sports Illustrated. In addition to the Los Angeles-based Chivas USA (owned by Mexico's Chivas de Guadalajara) which mentioned in the article, one that comes to my mind is the New York Red Bulls (The Austrian Red Bulls Energy Drink Company which also owns the Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg purchased the New York/New Jersey Metrostars about two years ago).
According to Barcelona's marketing research, the La Liga club has 50 million fans in Europe and 10 million in the United States. Because of this, Soriano wants to bring the club to them as well as form a new club that these fans could root for full time. This is the best time for Barcelona's management to from a club MLS since MLS is now working on expanding their league and currently has a goal of 18 clubs by 2010. They currently have 14 clubs after Toronto FC inaugural season in 2007 and the re-formation of the San Jose Earthquakes this season.
Barcelona's 2008 tour will be their third visit to the United States in six years. Their first visit was for the Champions World Series in which they played against Italy's Juventus and AC Milan (current holder of the Champions League and FIFA Club World Cup Title) as well as England's Manchester United.
In 2006, Barca played Mexico's two biggest clubs (Chivas de Guadalajara and Club America) in addition to the New York Red Bulls.
Soccer United Marketing (SUM) had also made amendments to deals with the US Soccer Federation, the Mexican Soccer Federation, and the regional soccer governing body of CONCACAF (which takes care of member nations in North and Central America as well as the Caribbean) as well as changes to new competitions such as the North American Superliga (a short tournament that started last season and includes 4 of the best clubs in MLS and 4 of the best clubs in the Mexican League) and the Pan Pacific Championship (a competition that took place in Hawaii this past February).
German Bundesliga club Borussia Moenchengladbachhas also agreed to tour the United States later this year and has already planned matches against FC Dallas and Colorado in July. However, Barca is the only European club that has signed a formal agreement with MLS and SUM.
All of this is part of a larger campaign in which MLS and American Soccer in general is trying to gain more respect from the soccer world. Barcelona may also form schools and camps in the United States. Soriano has already announced that three camps will be opened in the United States this year--the goal of which will be to develop a network of soccer school in US.
For more information regarding the recent additions to the pact with FC Barcelona, check out this official MLS press release.
The last time Barca was in the United States was two years ago when they played against the New York Red Bulls at Giants Stadium in a friendly match in front of a sell out crowd of 70,002--which proves that when big star players come from other countries, Americans will watch (although a good portion of the people in attendance were either Hispanic, from Spain, or Brazilians who wanted to cheer on their own Ronaldhino who played for Barca at the time. Barcelona destroyed the Red Bulls 4-1. The attendance almost broke the record had there been three more tickets sold. Not even David Beckham drew this many people last summer. The one match that currently holds the #1 in attendance was a match between English Premier League's Manchester United and Italy Serie A's Juventus which took place in June 2003.
No dates were decided yet for Barcelona's 2008 matches in the United States. However, officials from Soccer United Marketing (the marketing arm of MLS) and FC Barcelona have stated that the contract will also include "the U.S. soccer league negotiating the club's sponsorship rights and handling the public relations and marketing in the United States." The dates of these matches will depend on UEFA's schedule for qualifying for the 2008-2009 Champion's League since Barcelona's recent bad season had forced them to have to go through qualification instead of getting a free ride to the group stage.
According to FC Barcelona vice chairman Soriano, the Spanish club wants a "global brand" and has admitted that the only way to reach this goal is to have a "permanent presence" in the United States. He also added: "maybe that permanent presence will mean a team here someday."
The idea of MLS clubs being owned by other clubs abroad is "not unprecedented: according to the Sports Illustrated. In addition to the Los Angeles-based Chivas USA (owned by Mexico's Chivas de Guadalajara) which mentioned in the article, one that comes to my mind is the New York Red Bulls (The Austrian Red Bulls Energy Drink Company which also owns the Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg purchased the New York/New Jersey Metrostars about two years ago).
According to Barcelona's marketing research, the La Liga club has 50 million fans in Europe and 10 million in the United States. Because of this, Soriano wants to bring the club to them as well as form a new club that these fans could root for full time. This is the best time for Barcelona's management to from a club MLS since MLS is now working on expanding their league and currently has a goal of 18 clubs by 2010. They currently have 14 clubs after Toronto FC inaugural season in 2007 and the re-formation of the San Jose Earthquakes this season.
Barcelona's 2008 tour will be their third visit to the United States in six years. Their first visit was for the Champions World Series in which they played against Italy's Juventus and AC Milan (current holder of the Champions League and FIFA Club World Cup Title) as well as England's Manchester United.
In 2006, Barca played Mexico's two biggest clubs (Chivas de Guadalajara and Club America) in addition to the New York Red Bulls.
Soccer United Marketing (SUM) had also made amendments to deals with the US Soccer Federation, the Mexican Soccer Federation, and the regional soccer governing body of CONCACAF (which takes care of member nations in North and Central America as well as the Caribbean) as well as changes to new competitions such as the North American Superliga (a short tournament that started last season and includes 4 of the best clubs in MLS and 4 of the best clubs in the Mexican League) and the Pan Pacific Championship (a competition that took place in Hawaii this past February).
German Bundesliga club Borussia Moenchengladbachhas also agreed to tour the United States later this year and has already planned matches against FC Dallas and Colorado in July. However, Barca is the only European club that has signed a formal agreement with MLS and SUM.
All of this is part of a larger campaign in which MLS and American Soccer in general is trying to gain more respect from the soccer world. Barcelona may also form schools and camps in the United States. Soriano has already announced that three camps will be opened in the United States this year--the goal of which will be to develop a network of soccer school in US.
For more information regarding the recent additions to the pact with FC Barcelona, check out this official MLS press release.
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