LEN Teh Footy God's Footballodium

[Sarmatian]

Brazil - North Korea - Ivory Coast - Portugal.

Damn.

Ouch, probably the hardest group. Three good sides. Brazil and easily the best African nation. Good luck Jolty.

Germany - Serbia - Australia - Ghana.

Could've been better, could've been worse. I believe we're second best and have decent chance to qualify to knockout stage, with all due respect to Aussies and Ghana? (how does one call inhabitants of Ghana anyway?)

Group A is also tough - Uruguay, Mexico, South Africa and France. Mexico and France as two really good teams, Uruguay's got decent potential and the host.... Never underestimate the host.

On the fun side, US finally has got decent chance to progress to knockout stage

[drone]

On the fun side, US finally has got decent chance to progress to knockout stage

England, US, Algeria and Slovenia. Fairly tame, which is why we will blow it. Be nice to beat England though.

[scotchedpommes]

Was desperately hoping for Holland - Portugal [before Fragony appears with his Wild Boys video] but it was not to be.

Tempted to say the US can get out of that group if they put in the same effort they did in the summer, but I really don't know enough about how Algeria play. Egypt were a very tasty attacking side at times, and they came out ahead of them in the Matches of Hate.


Germany, Serbia, Australia, Ghana. Should be some good watches there.

[Afonso I of Portugal]

Was desperately hoping for Holland - Portugal...

Gah! me too...but i hope to drink a good orange juice in the knockout stage... anyway it will be showtime with Brasil, not that easy with Ivory Coast and easy with the Koreans, in the end we should go through.
Unbelievable...for Spain it will be a walk in the park...

[Beefy187]

Classic.


YES! Australia has a group of death!!!

Portugal tough group too.

Yea, Nigeria and Australia are both excellent teams.. Brazil and Portugal obviously..

I'm rooting for the Aussies though. Hoping for Brazil, then Australia.

Our group has the Dutch, Danes, Cameroon and us. This should be fun

[Strike For The South]

What do I need to know about the Slovenians? I remain unimpressed by Algeria and know a fair bit about the Limey's

If anyone wants to know anything about the American team, we are all 6'4 and kick the futbol clear across the pitch, have the ball go through the keeper and slam into the back of the net.

I seenz it, wit dees eyez

:ekk:

[Louis VI the Fat]

What do I need to know about the Slovenians? I remain unimpressed by Algeria and know a fair bit about the Limey's

Slovenia? A wee little country of no relevance. They will never defeat any big country like the US or Russia. No need for Team USA to prepare in earnest. Just go back to sleep now.

[Strike For The South]

Slovenia? A wee little country of no relevance. They will never defeat any big country like the US or Russia. No need for Team USA to prepare in earnest. Just go back to sleep now.

:

[Ferret]

yeah you guys should get second place fairly easily, obviously there's no chance of you winning the group though...

[naut]

Slovenia? A wee little country of no relevance. They will never defeat any big country like the US or Russia. No need for Team USA to prepare in earnest. Just go back to sleep now.

Hehe. That's what Guus Hiddink thought.

[Beefy187]

Didn't the Italians get smashed by USA recently?
Same thing could happen to England if they underestimate USA.

[naut]

Stoke not only throw punches on the pitch, but in the dressing room too.

[drone]

Didn't the Italians get smashed by USA recently?
Same thing could happen to England if they underestimate USA.

No, that was Spain.

The history of US v Italy is a bit one-sided. And not very polite either.

[Louis VI the Fat]

Terrible injury for Coupet. Goalie of PSG, and possibly France. His career might be over.

He breaks his leg, bone sticking out through his sock, so don't click this video if that's not what you want to see.

NSFweakstomachs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkTeXJF5yNk

[scotchedpommes]

Didn't know Coupet had moved to PSG. Would've thought of that as bad news enough.

Slovenia? A wee little country of no relevance. They will never defeat any big country like the US or Russia.

delayed <3 [and have a nice little play-off goal from 2001, too. Though we know how well that team did in Korea and Japan.]

[Fragony]

Terrible injury for Coupet. Goalie of PSG, and possibly France. His career might be over.

He breaks his leg, bone sticking out through his sock, so don't click this video if that's not what you want to see.

NSFweakstomachs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkTeXJF5yNk

Yikes that is a nasty one, won't be seeing him very soon, or at all.

[Ronin]

Portuguese Goalkeeper displays mad full contact football skills

wow....that hurt just from looking at it!

and he complains to the referee afterwards :D

[Louis VI the Fat]

Portuguese Goalkeeper displays mad full contact football skills

wow....that hurt just from looking at it!

and he complains to the referee afterwards :D

Que?


He ought to be send to gaol for that. What's that all about anymore?


Edit: Lyon - Bordeaux 0-1. Eight points clear of the club that occasionaly won titles back when the Romans still ruled Gaul.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIk60xZ4T6g

[scotchedpommes]

Somehow missed that one, [here's a video that's up as of writing] still enjoy watching Lyon taste any kind of defeat.

Just wandered in here as I thought Ajax 0-3 Anderlecht was an interesting scoreline, Mickey Mouse League or not. Poor ol' Jol, if he's still there.

[naut]

Edit: Lyon - Bordeaux 0-1. Eight points clear of the club that occasionaly won titles back when the Romans still ruled Gaul.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIk60xZ4T6g

Very good result considering Ludovic Sané was on his league debut, with Ciani out.

[naut]

Champions League Draw:

VfB Stuttgart v Barcelona
Olympiakos v Bordeaux
Internazionale v Chelsea
Bayern Munich v Fiorentina
CSKA Moscow v Sevilla FC
Lyon v Real Madrid
FC Porto v Arsenal
AC Milan v Manchester United

Intriguing draw. This one could throw up some unexpected results. You have to say that Barca should progress, along with Bordeaux. Depending which Real Madrid side turns up they should see off the challenge of Lyon. I can't see Inter, even with Mourinho, beating Chelsea. Arsenal and Man U have slightly more challenging draws. Porto are very strong at home, a clean sheet home and away is a must. While AC Milan despite having an old squad still possess very good players, Beckham may just get to play at OT once more. Red Nose will feel confident though. Bayern Munich v Fiorentina is one I am very much looking forward to, no matter what this'll be a good game. CSKA Moscow v Sevilla --- well I hope to all the deities in the Universe that Sevilla knocks out the Russians, because if they don't and Arsenal go through the next round we will draw CSKA --- Moscow in winter will be an advantage though.


Europa League Draw:

Rubin Kazan v Hapoel Tel-Aviv
Athletic Bilbao v Anderlecht
FC Copenhagen v Marseille
Panathinaikos v AS Roma
Atlético Madrid v Galatasaray
Ajax v Juventus
Club Brugge v Valencia
Fulham v Shakhtar Donetsk
Liverpool v Unirea Urziceni
Hamburg v PSV Eindhoven
Villarreal v VfL Wolfsburg
Standard Liège v Salzburg
FC Twente v Werder Bremen
Lille v Fenerbahçe
Everton v Sporting Lisbon
Hertha Berlin v Benfica

Some very tasty games here. Pana v Roma has all the right ingredients. Ajax v Juve will be a though one --- Ajax have every chance, Melo and Diego combo at Juve is a bit of a flop. Fulham v Shakhtar is a must watch, Shakhtar should win though. Liverpool v Unirea, well it'll be interesting if Unirea can continue their form from the CL group stages to these knock-out rounds, if so this will be a tough set of games. In my mind Villarreal v VfL Wolfsburg will be the best viewing, two teams a bit under the weather domestically, but good teams regardless. Werder should see of the challenge off Twente (). Both Everton v Sporting Lisbon and Hertha Berlin v Benfica will be tight ones.

All-in-all some good matches to look forward to.

[Louis VI the Fat]

Obviously, no complaints from me. While Olympiakos is a big club, it's clearly a level below some of the other clubs. Olympiakos is still unbeaten in the Greek league, and did well in the Big Cup, so it could go either way.

Internationale - Chelsea should be good. I think that game should've been the final.

[naut]

Mancini to take over at Mercenary Citeh.

In other news somebody swapped Diaby's water with red bull and magic dust that has turned him into a match-winning box-to-box midfielder overnight.

[naut]

Bump.

Top Ten: Managers' Letters to Santa

Dear Santa,

Can you please get me a brand new scapegoat for Christmas? I already have three beautiful goats called Money, Injuries and The Referee, but I have used them so much that they are almost completely worn out.

Muchas gracias,
Rafael ‘Fact Hunt’ Benitez

Dear Santa,

Please can you make Ray Wilkins go away? I can speak English now and I don’t need him any more.

Grazie,
Carlo Ancelotti

Dear Santa,

I’ll swap you Berbatov for a reindeer.

Och,
Sir Alex ‘Sir Alex’ Ferguson

[naut]

IA you'd be glad to see Megson removed no doubt? He was never very popular really though?

ESPN ran an interesting piece on the best football quotes of the decade. Most are pretty well-known regardless, but interesting read nonetheless.

[InsaneApache]

IA you'd be glad to see Megson removed no doubt? He was never very popular really though?

ESPN ran an interesting piece on the best football quotes of the decade. Most are pretty well-known regardless, but interesting read nonetheless.

Aye. Although quite who we're going to get is anyone's guess. Just goes to show that you shouldn't appoint a manc to manage us. That's coming from a manc who supports us an awl.

[scotchedpommes]

Coyle's about to take over at the Stade de Reebok. He's a good manager [as we've known here for years when he was getting notable results even before going down to Burnley] but he looks to have made a poor decision here.

Edit: Just to clarify, he's gone for the transfer budget, [assuming he didn't somehow... fall in love... with Bolton... or Gartside] which seems misguided. Don't believe he can do much more for Bolton and it surely would have been better for his reputation and job prospects if he'd kept Burnley up.

Edit2: Dempsey goal against Stoke.

[naut]

Good luck to Coyle, he's a good manager. Interesting to see how Burnley does without him.

Viera signs for Mancini's Man Citeh, he's too slow for the Serie A, how's he going to keep up in the EPL, let alone get in the team infront of Barry, Ireland or De Jong? Ah well, best of luck to him too. The joys of silly season.

Edit2: Dempsey goal against Stoke.

Hodgson is fantastic, he's turned Laurie Sanchez's mess into a well oiled machine that plays some nice stuff and is efficient at the back. So unlucky not to win at Stamford Bridge the other week.

[naut]

Tragedy in Angola. I hope the death toll does not rise any higher. Seems the calls for the tournament to be called off are gaining momentum.

[Afonso I of Portugal]

Yeah! too bad cause Togo (and Adebayor) quits and went home...

Anyway, the tournment started with a lot of goals, amazing comeback for Mali against Angola, 4 - 4 draw and 1 - 1 for Ivory Coast vs Burkina Faso... one of the weakest sides on earth...maybe IC is not that strong and having Drogba is not enough...let's see the following games.