Official Soccer Thread

[whitesoxfan101]

Impressive lack of composure by Chelsea after conceding an incredible goal for Barcelona. Barca was down 1-0 and a man down (on a terrible red card call) and scored in the 3rd minute of injury time to qualify for the final. Chelsea damn near assaulted the ref on nothing questionable, embarrassing.

 

There were 4 plays in the box that could have very easily been called penalty kicks for Chelsea in that game, and none of them were (two were really bad IMO, one was a blatant hand ball that wasn't called, and another was a blatant foul which actually was called, but was somehow called outside the box even though it was clearly inside) so I can understand their anger at the refs. However, they still had a 1-0 lead in the 2nd half at home with an 11 vs. 10 man advantage, and found a way to blow it, so they have absolutely nobody to blame but themselves. Chelsea dominated the game and still found a way to lose.

 

Cristiano is an even bigger douche, though I respect his talent. With that said, I hope AC Milan or Roma handles any one of these guys.

 

I'm not a soccer expert (I've just started to follow the sport basically since the 2006 World Cup) but AC Milan or Roma? I thought the winner of Barcelona/ManU is the "World Champion"?

Edited May 6, 2009 by whitesoxfan101

[nitetrain8601]

Ya, he's a douche, but he's probably a top 3 player in the world right now. His 2 goals yesterday were absolutely amazing.

 

List your top 3. I'd honestly say, and I hate to say it, he's the best player in the world.

[nitetrain8601]

There were 4 plays in the box that could have very easily been called penalty kicks for Chelsea in that game, and none of them were (two were really bad, one was a blatant hand ball that wasn't called, and another was a blatant foul which actually was called, but was somehow called outside the box even though it was clearly inside) so I can understand their anger at the refs. However, they still had a 1-0 lead in the 2nd half at home with an 11 vs. 10 man advantage, and found a way to blow it, so they have absolutely nobody to blame but themselves. Chelsea dominated the game and still found a way to blow it.

 

 

 

I'm not a soccer expert (I've just started to follow the sport basically since the 2006 World Cup) but AC Milan or Roma? I thought the winner of Barcelona/ManU is the "World Champion"?

 

For the Champions League tourney next year. With that said, AC has to stop signing guys who have passed their peak and start bringing in young talent.

[whitesoxfan101]

For the Champions League tourney next year. With that said, AC has to stop signing guys who have passed their peak and start bringing in young talent.

 

Ahh ok. And I guess I should be fair and point out that although there were in my opinion 4 questionable (at best) calls in the box that all went against Chelsea, the red card against Barcelona was an absolutely brutal call as well.

[SoxFan1]

List your top 3. I'd honestly say, and I hate to say it, he's the best player in the world.

Messi and Ronaldo are top 2, order not a horribly big deal. There are quite a few players fighting for that #3 spot. Nemanja Vidic has asserted himself as one of the best defenders in the world. Steven Gerrard is still an incredible playmaker for Liverpool and Fernando Torres is a prolific goal scorer. I'd say those are my top 5...

 

Ronaldo, Messi, Torres, Vidic, Gerrard

[nitetrain8601]

Messi and Ronaldo are top 2, order not a horribly big deal. There are quite a few players fighting for that #3 spot. Nemanja Vidic has asserted himself as one of the best defenders in the world. Steven Gerrard is still an incredible playmaker for Liverpool and Fernando Torres is a prolific goal scorer. I'd say those are my top 5...

 

Ronaldo, Messi, Torres, Vidic, Gerrard

 

Ronaldo Messi and Torres. Excellent. My top 3 as well. I might slip Kaka in there.

[SoxFan1]

Ronaldo Messi and Torres. Excellent. My top 3 as well. I might slip Kaka in there.

I like Kaka a lot (hehe), but there is something about him that irks me. Admittedly, I haven't watched them a lot recently, but he doesn't seem to have the ability to make something out of nothing like some of the other world class players.

[danman31]

For the Champions League tourney next year. With that said, AC has to stop signing guys who have passed their peak and start bringing in young talent.

Unfortunately, Roma might not make it next year. They are my favorite European team and it sucks that they are having a rough year in Serie A by their standards. Their Champions League PK defeat to Arsenal was gutwrenching.

[ChiSox_Sonix]

Ronaldo Messi and Torres. Excellent. My top 3 as well. I might slip Kaka in there.

 

Messi and Ronaldo are givens as 1/2 (in any order) at this point. I'd personally place Kaka ahead of Torres at this point. Torres is a great player, but he's too one dimensional for me. I actually like David Villa more than Torres. Also, people tend to forget about the Afircans, but Eto'o, Emmanuel Adebayor and Michael Essien are fantastic players.

[nitetrain8601]

Messi and Ronaldo are givens as 1/2 (in any order) at this point. I'd personally place Kaka ahead of Torres at this point. Torres is a great player, but he's too one dimensional for me. I actually like David Villa more than Torres. Also, people tend to forget about the Afircans, but Eto'o, Emmanuel Adebayor and Michael Essien are fantastic players.

 

Villa is underrated. Eto's great, but I expect more out of Adebayor though.

[DBAHO]

Villa is underrated. Eto's great, but I expect more out of Adebayor though.

Adebayor's basically had 1 good season, and that was last season. Done nothing to back it up.

 

I'd rank em as this;

 

1 - Messi. Has overtaken Ronaldo this season IMO. Fantastic player.

2 - Ronaldo. Hasn't been as good as he was last season when he scored 42 goals, and I think he still wants to go to Real Madrid.

3 - Kaka. Doesn't do anything fantastically, but he's good at everything, very good. Class player.

4 - Ibrahimovic. And yeah I'll get called out for his lack of scoring at the European Level. But he's been a beast in Italy for many seasons and there aren't any other strikers around with his size and speed besides Adebayor who actually have good finishing ability.

5 - Gerrard. Can play anywhere in midfield and dominate. Was deciding b/w Xavi, Rooney and Fabregas for this spot.

 

For me, Torres has slipped this season, and Vidic got found out against Liverpool, as he's no good against quick forwards.

[SoxFan1]

Adebayor's basically had 1 good season, and that was last season. Done nothing to back it up.

 

I'd rank em as this;

 

1 - Messi. Has overtaken Ronaldo this season IMO. Fantastic player.

2 - Ronaldo. Hasn't been as good as he was last season when he scored 42 goals, and I think he still wants to go to Real Madrid.

3 - Kaka. Doesn't do anything fantastically, but he's good at everything, very good. Class player.

4 - Ibrahimovic. And yeah I'll get called out for his lack of scoring at the European Level. But he's been a beast in Italy for many seasons and there aren't any other strikers around with his size and speed besides Adebayor who actually have good finishing ability.

5 - Gerrard. Can play anywhere in midfield and dominate. Was deciding b/w Xavi, Rooney and Fabregas for this spot.

 

For me, Torres has slipped this season, and Vidic got found out against Liverpool, as he's no good against quick forwards.

Vidic has 1 bad game ALL SEASON and he gets found out? He's the top defender in the world right now and as for quick forwards, I don't think he's had too much trouble really. Look what he did against Mutu of Romania. He's been a force outside of 1 bad game. And I don't see how you can have Kaka in there if you say yourself he doesn't really excel per se in one thing. Yeah, he's good at everything, but I don't think he's a top 3 guy right now. Ibrahimovic? Wow. He's a beast in Italy but he hasn't done a whole lot in any cup tournaments and he hasn't done anything internationally in a while.

[ChiSox_Sonix]

Adebayor's basically had 1 good season, and that was last season. Done nothing to back it up.

 

I'd rank em as this;

 

1 - Messi. Has overtaken Ronaldo this season IMO. Fantastic player.

2 - Ronaldo. Hasn't been as good as he was last season when he scored 42 goals, and I think he still wants to go to Real Madrid.

3 - Kaka. Doesn't do anything fantastically, but he's good at everything, very good. Class player.

4 - Ibrahimovic. And yeah I'll get called out for his lack of scoring at the European Level. But he's been a beast in Italy for many seasons and there aren't any other strikers around with his size and speed besides Adebayor who actually have good finishing ability.

5 - Gerrard. Can play anywhere in midfield and dominate. Was deciding b/w Xavi, Rooney and Fabregas for this spot.

 

For me, Torres has slipped this season, and Vidic got found out against Liverpool, as he's no good against quick forwards.

 

You even mentioned his lack of goal scoring at the European level. To me, Ibrahimovic has been one of the main reasons Sweden has underachieved in the past 5 years. Yeah, he has the talent but his lack of goal scoring at the International level shouldn't allow him anywhere near a Top 5 players in the world ranking, IMO.

[ChiSox_Sonix]

Barcelona best Man U 2-0 (Eto'o and Messi) to win the UEFA Champions League trophy. From the live blog of the game it sounds as if Man U was real sloppy and played quite poorly

[SoxFan1]

Barcelona best Man U 2-0 (Eto'o and Messi) to win the UEFA Champions League trophy. From the live blog of the game it sounds as if Man U was real sloppy and played quite poorly

I wouldn't say they played sloppy, but overall, they were just plain flat. Barca put on a passing display. They were faster than than ManU. United just didn't look ready to play, I'd say 7/10 times Manchester wins this match because of their fantastic defense, but it just wasn't there today. Barca definitely deserved it.

[ChiSox_Sonix]

I wouldn't say they played sloppy, but overall, they were just plain flat. Barca put on a passing display. They were faster than than ManU. United just didn't look ready to play, I'd say 7/10 times Manchester wins this match because of their fantastic defense, but it just wasn't there today. Barca definitely deserved it.

 

Yeah i just followed via that live commentary ESPN has some guy do. He made it sound as if Puyol of all people had a couple golden opportunities and that Eto'o burned Carrick and Vidic for that first goal.

 

[SoxFan1]

He made it sound as if Puyol of all people had a couple golden opportunities and that Eto'o burned Carrick and Vidic for that first goal.

Both of those statements are true. Eto'o played a brilliant game. He made Vidic and Carrick look silly. Turned them around and burned by them. Van der Sar could have made the save, but Eto'o rocketed it off his hand. Puyol had a couple good chances late to make it 3-0, but Van der Sar made some nice saves.

[ChiSox_Sonix]

Both of those statements are true. Eto'o played a brilliant game. He made Vidic and Carrick look silly. Turned them around and burned by them. Van der Sar could have made the save, but Eto'o rocketed it off his hand. Puyol had a couple good chances late to make it 3-0, but Van der Sar made some nice saves.

 

I love watching Eto'o play. I really hope Cameroon can qualify for the 2010 WC. They have Togo and Morocco in their group tho so it's not gonna be easy.

[Balta1701]

Darn, team "U.S. taxpayer" lost.

[danman31]

Barca has such a fantastic attack, I was surprised Man U was such a heavy favorite going in.

[SoxFan1]

Barca has such a fantastic attack, I was surprised Man U was such a heavy favorite going in.

Phenomenal defense vs phenomenal offense. There is no question that ManU has the much more complete team. Barca has always had questions in the back 4, despite Puyol being there for a while.

[danman31]

Phenomenal defense vs phenomenal offense. There is no question that ManU has the much more complete team. Barca has always had questions in the back 4, despite Puyol being there for a while.

I don't know how you say no question. You are talking about the first team to win the treble in Spain. To say Man U is much more complete is a gross exaggeration of the difference between the teams.

[SoxFan1]

I don't know how you say no question. You are talking about the first team to win the treble in Spain. To say Man U is much more complete is a gross exaggeration of the difference between the teams.

That's just my opinion. Are you denying that Barcelona hasn't had a lot of issues and questions defensively over the years? I understand what Barca has accomplished, but no one on ManU played well. Rooney was almost invisible for about 85 minutes. Ronaldo had some chances early but didn't capitalize. Park, Tevez, Giggs...they did nothing. The Eto'o seemed to completely stun them and they never recovered.

[Soxbadger]

Puyol was really able to be physical with Ronaldo, and whenever Ronaldo was physical back Puyol would fall.

 

Ronaldo will become a better player for playing in the more physical Premiership, but last night the game favored La Liga style play.

 

ManU could have won that game, but some times the ball just doesnt find the net.

 

 

[Sonik22]

USA vs. Costa Rica tonight in San Jose, CR. Then USA vs. Honduras here in Chicago, I'm trying my hardest to get to that game