soccer soccer soccer

[imb]

congrats to Leeds on being the first MLS team to play in the prem

[Rex Buckingham]

Champions League Draw:

 

PSG - Bayern

Liverpool - Real Madrid

Dortmund - Chelsea

RB Leipzig - City

Milan - Spurs

Inter - Porto

Frankfurt - Napoli

Brugge - Benfica

 

I've got Bayern, Madrid, Chelsea, City, Milan, Inter, Napoli, and Benfica going through

[soccer10k]

Not that I think Spurs should win that tie but I’m fine with it. Didn’t get PSG which is all I cared about. The other 6 runner ups besides PSG and Brugge are all fairly even.

 

Also, LOL PSG. Guess they should have tried a bit more to maintain that goal differential. Good to see Benfica get rewarded for playing until the end and continuing to try to make up the GD by drawing easily the worst of the runner ups.

[soccer10k]

Also just saw ManU drew Barcelona in the Europa League which makes me very happy.

[Rex Buckingham]

Not that I think Spurs should win that tie but I’m fine with it. Didn’t get PSG which is all I cared about. The other 6 runner ups besides PSG and Brugge are all fairly even.

 

Also, LOL PSG. Guess they should have tried a bit more to maintain that goal differential. Good to see Benfica get rewarded for playing until the end and continuing to try to make up the GD by drawing easily the worst of the runner ups.

 

Spurs - Milan and Dortmund - Chelsea are the ones I am most interested in/most even matchups. I think Bayern and Real are just better than PSG and Liverpool at this point. City, Napoli, and Inter should be comfortable, and I really know nothing about Benfica-Brugge other than Brugge being perceived as probably the weakest runner up.

[stitchface]

wow. every matchup is interesting really.

 

Man U is a bad draw for Barcelona - they should still win but exactly the type of team that gives the problems.

[soccer10k]

wow. every matchup is interesting really.

 

Just going by 538 because I don’t have a better site that sorts easily, but of the top 16 teams in the UCL by their ratings, 14 went through. The two that didn’t were Barcelona and Ajax and they were in groups with 2 other top-16 teams.

 

Upsets in the group stage are obviously fun and it’s cool to see teams like Brugge and Frankfurt advance when they haven’t been to this stage ever or in a long time. But when the good teams advance, you get a ton of potentially good knockout round ties.

[stitchface]

wow, Rayo takes down Madrid leaving Barca top of the table! Lots seem to see Liverpool as the loser in that tie but I think it should be fun. Not sure I have a lot of confidence in TAA to shut down Vini though . . .

[stitchface]

wow. every matchup is interesting really.

 

Just going by 538 because I don’t have a better site that sorts easily, but of the top 16 teams in the UCL by their ratings, 14 went through. The two that didn’t were Barcelona and Ajax and they were in groups with 2 other top-16 teams.

 

Upsets in the group stage are obviously fun and it’s cool to see teams like Brugge and Frankfurt advance when they haven’t been to this stage ever or in a long time. But when the good teams advance, you get a ton of potentially good knockout round ties.

 

Brugge looked strong in the group stage. Frankfurt is interesting in that they won Europa last year but started terribly in the Bundesliga - hard to know who they are.

[stitchface]

Chelsea will have their work cut out for them to avoid scoring against Dortmund.

[UMFan83]

Ok the Ricketts have officially gone too far

 

[wvcbxl]

Brugge looked strong in the group stage.

 

They really did - only had one bad game (at home against Porto).

Atletico Madrid got eliminated from that group - that should count for something.

[stitchface]

Brugge looked strong in the group stage.

 

They really did - only had one bad game (at home against Porto).

Atletico Madrid got eliminated from that group - that should count for something.

 

It counts for nobody having to watch athletico madrid's hacktastic brand of soccer!

[wolf stansson]

 

 

Mason Mount fans are trembling at this photo

[UMFan83]

[bukie]

Chris Richards injured himself in his last game and won't be at the World Cup.

 

That leaves who left for CB? Ream, Zimmerman, Long, CCV?

 

Really nervous about the up the middle defense for the World Cup.

[Rex Buckingham]

 

That seems like a shocker, unless he got hurt or something crazy happened like he punched Gregg out for telling him Turner would be the starter

[soccer10k]

[tweet]

[/tweet]

 

EA Sports Fifa predicted the World Cup results. Problem is, the bracket they put out is incorrect because it keeps teams from the same group on the same side of the knockout bracket which means they could meet again in the semis when in the actual bracket, two teams from the same group can't meet until the final.

 

On the positive side, sign me up for a QF appearance for the US.

[stitchface]

CP gets 90 in Carabao Cup. The good news is he didn't get hurt. The bad news is he isn't very good.

[Rex Buckingham]

Horvath AND Johnson

Shaq Moore

Roldan

Morris and Haji Wright

 

no Pepi or Pefok

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Haji over Pepi is surprising. If you think of it that Ferreira and Sargent would be considered higher up the pecking order, then having a stylistic change for late game situations make sense. Haji over Pefok is a bit surprising, but maybe he rates Haji's defensive/pressing work more highly.

 

I also didn't think he would bring Ream back after so long away from the team(and an intentional tactical choice that emphasizes Ream's risk), but you have to bring somebody and with Richards/Robinson hurt the gap from Ream to McKenzie/EPB isn't much.

 

Mildly surprised at Moore over Cannon given how the latter was preferred in 3 back setups, and also figured that Arriola would get the call before Morris though I think that's the smart call for the tournament given the roster.

[wolf stansson]

GK: Love the keepers. No notes. Eliminate the distraction and empower Turner completely.

 

D: Aaron Long better not play. Ream good. Moore over Cannon is a tiny tiny quibble.

 

MF: Great No notes.

 

F: Haji over Pepi sucks but not a big deal. I’d start Sargent or Ferreira pretty much no matter what.

 

 

I am very very happy about goalkeeper

[stitchface]

GK: Love the keepers. No notes. Eliminate the distraction and empower Turner completely.

 

D: Aaron Long better not play. Ream good. Moore over Cannon is a tiny tiny quibble.

 

MF: Great No notes.

 

F: Haji over Pepi sucks but not a big deal. I’d start Sargent or Ferreira pretty much no matter what.

 

 

I am very very happy about goalkeeper

 

so not excited by the 9s . . . I have to admit I have low hopes for this world cup. getting out of the group would be a pleasant surprise.

[UMFan83]

GK: Love the keepers. No notes. Eliminate the distraction and empower Turner completely.

 

D: Aaron Long better not play. Ream good. Moore over Cannon is a tiny tiny quibble.

 

MF: Great No notes.

 

F: Haji over Pepi sucks but not a big deal. I’d start Sargent or Ferreira pretty much no matter what.

 

 

I am very very happy about goalkeeper

 

so not excited by the 9s . . . I have to admit I have low hopes for this world cup. getting out of the group would be a pleasant surprise.

 

Kind of how I feel too but not sure how much those WC tune ups are distorting my expectations. Just doesn't seem like there are many forwards on the roster who are in good form heading into this tournament. Have to win a match 1-0 and draw one 0-0 to advance lol

[Rex Buckingham]

it just sucks that we have the most talent we've ever had, but just nothing in terms of goal-scoring, and our back line is an injury-riddled and/or old mess

 

Put prime Clint, McBride, Jozy, or Wynalda up top and we look drastically different. Heck, I'd settle for Clint Mathis or healthy Charlie Davies