The Soccer Thread

[MPC]

Your domestic league (English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, Italian Seria A, German Bundesliga, French Ligue A, etc) would be like your conference (SEC, Big 10, Pac 10, etc) but much more important. The Champions league would be like March Madness where the best teams from all the leagues, with the best leagues getting the most invites, play each other to determine the best European club. The UEFA Cup would be the NIT where the next best teams have their less prestigious tournament.

 

That sounds like a pretty fun system. Is there a similar system for teams in the Americas?

yes, but its divided between south america and central/north america. its not nearly as good as uefa though.

[bukie]

Your domestic league (English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, Italian Seria A, German Bundesliga, French Ligue A, etc) would be like your conference (SEC, Big 10, Pac 10, etc) but much more important. The Champions league would be like March Madness where the best teams from all the leagues, with the best leagues getting the most invites, play each other to determine the best European club. The UEFA Cup would be the NIT where the next best teams have their less prestigious tournament.

 

That sounds like a pretty fun system. Is there a similar system for teams in the Americas?

yes, but its divided between south america and central/north america. its not nearly as good as uefa though.

North America just this year decided to form their own Champions League, I believe.

 

South America has been doing their own version of a Champs League (I think it's called Copa Supamericana or something like that...), and the winner of the European (UEFA) Champs league plays the winner of the South American Champs League in a winner-take-all cup, also.

[Jon]

North America just this year decided to form their own Champions League, I believe.

 

South America has been doing their own version of a Champs League (I think it's called Copa Supamericana or something like that...), and the winner of the European (UEFA) Champs league plays the winner of the South American Champs League in a winner-take-all cup, also.

Yeah. They actually announced it last April.

 

Wikipedia[/url]"]

Background

The CONCACAF Champions League will be a seasonal club football competition organized by Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF). The inaugural tournament will begin play in August 2008 and end in April of 2009.[1] It will replace the current CONCACAF Champions' Cup format.

 

Format

The tournament will feature 24 teams in total: four clubs each from the United States and Mexico, three Caribbean sides (qualifying via the CFU Club Championship[2]), two clubs each from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama, and one representative each from Canada, Belize, and Nicaragua.

 

There will be a two-leg preliminary round for 16 clubs, with the 8 winners advancing to a group stage. The other 8 teams (2 from the United States, 2 from Mexico, and one each from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras) will be seeded and begin the competition directly in the group stage. The winners of the preliminary round and the seeded clubs will play in the group stage in four groups of four, with each team playing the others in its group twice, both home and away. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the knockout stages, which will consist of home-and-away elimination. The finals, in late April, will also be two-legged, home-and-away.

 

The champion of the competition will represent CONCACAF in the FIFA Club World Cup.

[wolf stansson]

South America has been doing their own version of a Champs League (I think it's called Copa Supamericana or something like that...), and the winner of the European (UEFA) Champs league plays the winner of the South American Champs League in a winner-take-all cup, also.

COPA Sudamericana, although the Copa Libertadores, which is going on right now, is the more prestigious tournament. That involves South American leagues as well as the Mexican league.

[shnsajax]

Your domestic league (English Premier League, Spanish La Liga, Italian Seria A, German Bundesliga, French Ligue A, etc) would be like your conference (SEC, Big 10, Pac 10, etc) but much more important. The Champions league would be like March Madness where the best teams from all the leagues, with the best leagues getting the most invites, play each other to determine the best European club. The UEFA Cup would be the NIT where the next best teams have their less prestigious tournament.

 

That sounds like a pretty fun system. Is there a similar system for teams in the Americas?

 

The greatest part about it pitting countries who hate each other against each other. Its simply the best of the best. If players had to choose between winning the domestic league or the champions league, I think they would choose the Champions League. I could be wrong on that though.

 

Here's my favorite Champs League Goal

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

 

Next to the Stanley Cup the trophy is best around IMO.

http://www.football-wallpapers.com/wallpapers/champions_league_2005_1_1024x768.jpg

[Jon]

Looks like 5 Cubans are missing in the US now after the game.

AP[/url]"]Cuban sports officials were stunned Thursday by the desertions of up to seven soccer players in Florida. Still, the under-23 team will play on.

 

The Cuban team will play Honduras on Thursday night in Tampa, Fla. It's Cuba's second game in a qualifying tournament for the Beijing Olympics, sponsored by the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football, or CONCACAF.

 

The Cuban delegation notified CONCACAF on Thursday that the team will continue to participate, CONCACAF general secretary Chuck Blazer said in a statement.

 

The players, who had not yet reported to authorities, went missing after Cuba tied the United States 1-1 Tuesday.

...............

The five men are expected to be in Miami by this weekend, said Marcos Ommati, a spokesman with professional soccer team Miami FC.

 

He said Wednesday that he had not spoken with the players and did not know their whereabouts, but said he had spoken with someone who told him to expect the players.

 

Player Yendry Diaz told ESPN in an interview that he and forward Eder Roldan also had left the team, bringing the total to seven.

I'm more stunned about the draw.

[OleMissCub]

The greatest part about it pitting countries who hate each other against each other. Its simply the best of the best. If players had to choose between winning the domestic league or the champions league, I think they would choose the Champions League. I could be wrong on that though.

 

No doubt. Soccer is one of the only ways that Europeans are allowed to express their nationalism these days without being labeled as neo-nazi's.

[Jon]

The greatest part about it pitting countries who hate each other against each other. Its simply the best of the best. If players had to choose between winning the domestic league or the champions league, I think they would choose the Champions League. I could be wrong on that though.

 

No doubt. Soccer is one of the only ways that Europeans are allowed to express their nationalism these days without being labeled as neo-nazi's.

No, that's still a large part of it in some places.

[shnsajax]

Looks like 5 Cubans are missing in the US now after the game.

AP[/url]"]Cuban sports officials were stunned Thursday by the desertions of up to seven soccer players in Florida. Still, the under-23 team will play on.

 

The Cuban team will play Honduras on Thursday night in Tampa, Fla. It's Cuba's second game in a qualifying tournament for the Beijing Olympics, sponsored by the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football, or CONCACAF.

 

The Cuban delegation notified CONCACAF on Thursday that the team will continue to participate, CONCACAF general secretary Chuck Blazer said in a statement.

 

The players, who had not yet reported to authorities, went missing after Cuba tied the United States 1-1 Tuesday.

...............

The five men are expected to be in Miami by this weekend, said Marcos Ommati, a spokesman with professional soccer team Miami FC.

 

He said Wednesday that he had not spoken with the players and did not know their whereabouts, but said he had spoken with someone who told him to expect the players.

 

Player Yendry Diaz told ESPN in an interview that he and forward Eder Roldan also had left the team, bringing the total to seven.

I'm more stunned about the draw.

 

No joke, that should have almost been given to them after managing a point. I think my old college team could have beaten Cuba.

[Jon]

Yet another less than inspiring effort by the U-23 team, but they walked away with a 1-0 victory. And Adu walked away with a punch to the stomach.

[wolf stansson]

Yet another less than inspiring effort by the U-23 team, but they walked away with a 1-0 victory. And Adu walked away with a punch to the stomach.

Who scored? What happened? I didn't get to watch.

[Jon]

Yet another less than inspiring effort by the U-23 team, but they walked away with a 1-0 victory. And Adu walked away with a punch to the stomach.

Who scored? What happened? I didn't get to watch.

Adu off a PK. That was about it. Panama had some chances, though I only saw the second half.

 

Adu took a punch to the stomach out of the blue, but he ended up being fine. They were a wee bit chippy.

[wolf stansson]

Is Danny Szetela not on this squad? I'd like to see him in there.

[shnsajax]

Yet another less than inspiring effort by the U-23 team, but they walked away with a 1-0 victory. And Adu walked away with a punch to the stomach.

 

I know this Mexico team is not supposed to be real great, but right now this US team won't be beating Canada or Mexico in the semi's and missing the Olympics again. Hopefully they get it figured out in 2 days before the semi's.

[brinoch]

Ugh... Nowak is a terrible coach. Seriously, listening to the announcers praise McCarty was like stabbing myself in the eardrum with a fork repeatedly. He was awful. I still don't understand why Feilhaber was left off the team... Derby County released him. Was Szetela released? I know Bradley wasn't and Spector will be released for the Semis.

 

I thought Kljestan looked pretty good in the first half.

[USSoccer]

Ugh... Nowak is a terrible coach. Seriously, listening to the announcers praise McCarty was like stabbing myself in the eardrum with a fork repeatedly. He was awful. I still don't understand why Feilhaber was left off the team... Derby County released him. Was Szetela released? I know Bradley wasn't and Spector will be released for the Semis.

 

I thought Kljestan looked pretty good in the first half.

 

Derby either asked the USSF to release Feilhaber, or Nowak did the most idiotic thing a coach can do at that level, and based his roster on camp form rather than overall ability.

 

Dax McCarty sucks. Like, he's the Taylor Twellman of center mids.

[shnsajax]

Ugh... Nowak is a terrible coach. Seriously, listening to the announcers praise McCarty was like stabbing myself in the eardrum with a fork repeatedly. He was awful. I still don't understand why Feilhaber was left off the team... Derby County released him. Was Szetela released? I know Bradley wasn't and Spector will be released for the Semis.

 

I thought Kljestan looked pretty good in the first half.

 

Derby either asked the USSF to release Feilhaber, or Nowak did the most idiotic thing a coach can do at that level, and based his roster on camp form rather than overall ability.

 

Dax McCarty sucks. Like, he's the Taylor Twellman of center mids.

 

Nowak comes off as a complete prick, so thats possible. He is someone that I would not want coaching youth too.

[wolf stansson]

UCL Draw

 

* Manchester United vs. Roma

* Barcelona vs. Schalke 04

* Chelsea vs. Fenerbahce

* Arsenal vs. Liverpool

Roma/Man U and Arsenal/Liverpool will be great matchups.

[sethuel1]

UCL Draw

 

* Manchester United vs. Roma

* Barcelona vs. Schalke 04

* Chelsea vs. Fenerbahce

* Arsenal vs. Liverpool

Roma/Man U and Arsenal/Liverpool will be great matchups.

I'm excited to get Man U again.

[shnsajax]

UCL Draw

 

* Manchester United vs. Roma

* Barcelona vs. Schalke 04

* Chelsea vs. Fenerbahce

* Arsenal vs. Liverpool

Roma/Man U and Arsenal/Liverpool will be great matchups.

I'm excited to get Man U again.

 

That sucks, if anything I was hoping for Manu vs. Chelsea. Arsenal should win, but this is all Liverpool is playing for and they become great in the Champions League play. I would love to see a Schalke upset over Barca, but like Liverpool this is all they are really playing for too.

[shnsajax]

Arsenal and Liverpool are also playing in the league game between the two Champions League games as well, so they will be playing each other three straight games in an 8 day period. :roll:

[wolf stansson]

Arsenal and Liverpool are also playing in the league game between the two Champions League games as well, so they will be playing each other three straight games in an 8 day period. :roll:

Hopefully it doesn't follow the Liverpool-Chelsea model of being incredibly boring.

[USSoccer]

Ugh... Nowak is a terrible coach. Seriously, listening to the announcers praise McCarty was like stabbing myself in the eardrum with a fork repeatedly. He was awful. I still don't understand why Feilhaber was left off the team... Derby County released him. Was Szetela released? I know Bradley wasn't and Spector will be released for the Semis.

 

I thought Kljestan looked pretty good in the first half.

 

Derby either asked the USSF to release Feilhaber, or Nowak did the most idiotic thing a coach can do at that level, and based his roster on camp form rather than overall ability.

 

Dax McCarty sucks. Like, he's the Taylor Twellman of center mids.

 

Nowak comes off as a complete prick, so thats possible. He is someone that I would not want coaching youth too.

 

I don't mean to beat this dead horse, but Nowak was likely a factor in Klinsmann not becoming the USMNT coach. He saw our youth system for what it is-badly flawed and somewhat broken, and wanted control over the pipeline, similar to what he had with Germany. USSF wouldn't give it to him. The way the USSF id's and advances players from ODP through the youth levels is horrible. Too much emphasis on "practice" form and not enough focus on creativity or ability. The fact that a player like Dempsey, who has flair, made it through our system, is amazing.

 

Nowak is probably the worst person to have in charge of a youth side. It would be like putting Dusty Baker in charge of the D'Rays minor league system. Way too much emphasis on the wrong things, and a horrid temper to boot.

 

I can't believe Roma drew Man U again.

[shnsajax]

Arsenal and Liverpool are also playing in the league game between the two Champions League games as well, so they will be playing each other three straight games in an 8 day period. :roll:

Hopefully it doesn't follow the Liverpool-Chelsea model of being incredibly boring.

 

Given what both teams have to play for and the current standings it shouldn't. Arsenal need a league win very badly. Liverpool need to stay in the top of Everton. Liverpool has nothing to play for this season other than the Champions League, but if not careful might not even be in it next season.

 

Liverpool could play for the draw the 1st two games, then look to take it at home in the last game.

 

I honestly have no clue. The lineups over those days will be very different I am guessing for each game.

[reggiemiller rules]

I was really hoping that Liverpool could avoid an English club this round, and if they did have to get one it would be Chelsea.