Fútbol chatter

[JayhawkCO]

I don't think he will end up at Manchester City, but if he does, that's game over for the rest of soccer. And then imagine if they also sign Kane . . .
Man City's squad if they got Messi and Kane:

GK - Ederson
LB - Cancelo
CB - Dias
CB - Stones
RB - Walker
CM - De Bruyne
CM - Gundogan
CM - Bernardo Silva
LW - Sterling
RW - Grealish
CF - Kane

With Mahrez, Fernandinho, Gabriel Jesus, Foden, Rodri, and Ferran Torres on the BENCH.

Is that late 2000s/early 2010s Barcelona level?

Pep today said they won't sign him.  He also said he's still in on Kane pending Levy's negotiation tactics.

Bernardo also said he wants to leave per Pep.

Chris

[Bruce]

He's gone to PSG on a two-year contract. Maybe after that we could hear a serious attempt by an MLS club to acquire him.

https://twitter.com/PSG_inside/status/1425189199213473798

[JayhawkCO]

He's gone to PSG on a two-year contract. Maybe after that we could hear a serious attempt by an MLS club to acquire him.

Inter Miami seems a likely suspect.  They want to sign all the best players, but they play absolutely terribly together. 

Chris

[JayhawkCO]

Gooners do what gooners do.  Arsenal loses to recently promoted Brentford 2-0 in Brentford's first top division match in 75 years.

Chris

[english si]

Brentford's first top division match in 75 years.

Just over 74 years. They went down at the end of the 46/47 season (the first league season after WW2).

Speaking of 74 or 75, I believe 74/75 was the last season Arsenal propped up the table at any point of the campaign. It's been a long time coming, but they deserve that temporary indignity.

I don't know when Brentford were last top of the league, if ever, but it's at least 80 years ago. In 07/08 they finished the season 82nd, and now 13 seasons and a game later they are top of the football pyramid overnight.

[JayhawkCO]

Champions League Draw

Group A
Manchester City
Paris St. Germain
RB Leipzig
Club Brugge

Group B
Atlético Madrid
Liverpool
Porto
AC Milan

Group C
Sporting Lisbon
Borussia Dortmund
Ajax
Beşiktaş

Group D
Inter Milan
Real Madrid
Shakhtar Donetsk
Sheriff Tiraspol

Group E
Bayern Münich
Barcelona
Benfica
Dynamo Kyiv

Group F
Villareal
Manchester United
Atalanta
Young Boys

Group G
Lille
Sevilla
Salzburg
Wolfsburg

Group H
Chelsea
Juventus
Zenit St. Petersburg
Malmö

My picks to advance in bold.

Group A clearly group of death with Group B and Group E not too far behind.

Chris

[NWI_Irish96]

Nice draw for Chelsea, especially with Juventus losing Ronaldo.

[JayhawkCO]

Nice draw for Chelsea, especially with Juventus losing Ronaldo.

Still have Juventus as the only Italian team go make it through.  It seems like every Italian side got worse this transfer window:

Inter - Lost Lukaku
AC Milan - Lost Donarumma
Atalanta - Lost Gollini and Romero
Juventus - Probably losing Ronaldo, possibly losing McKennie

Chris

[thspfc]

Group A and Group B are the toughest. City/PSG will be awesome. So will Atletico/Liverpool, Bayern/Barca, and Chelsea/Juve if Ronaldo plays.

I could honestly see Dortmund getting last in their group.

All of the Premier League clubs SHOULD advance comfortably. Chelsea and United will be expected to top their group, City could go either way, Liverpool will probably get second after Atletico.

In my opinion the tournament favorites are, in no order, PSG, City, Bayern, United, and Chelsea.

[thspfc]

Nice draw for Chelsea, especially with Juventus losing Ronaldo.

Still have Juventus as the only Italian team go make it through.  It seems like every Italian side got worse this transfer window:

Inter - Lost Lukaku
AC Milan - Lost Donarumma
Atalanta - Lost Gollini and Romero
Juventus - Probably losing Ronaldo, possibly losing McKennie

Chris

Conversely three of the four English UCL teams improved, the exception being Liverpool.

[JayhawkCO]

I could honestly see Dortmund getting last in their group.

Any reason why?  Any team with Haaland will be tough.  Sporting finally won their league after 20 years or whatever, but other than Porto doing a little damage in weaker groups, Portuguese teams haven't done much in the Champions League.  Turkish teams are not what they once were.

Chris

[JayhawkCO]

Conversely three of the four English UCL teams improved, the exception being Liverpool.

Liverpool improved just because they have Van Dijk back if nothing else.

Chris

[CNGL-Leudimin]

It will be nice to see Inter Milan and Real Madrid going to an unrecognized country .

[JayhawkCO]

It will be nice to see Inter Milan and Real Madrid going to an unrecognized country .

My Spurs played them in Tiraspol in the Europa League a few years back.  Odd little place.

Chris

[english si]

Arsenal propped the table up once more for a few minutes between them conceding a fifth, and Norwich conceding. But since the forth (cheered by the Gooners) and until Leicester get a second, Arsenal have only escaped being bottom on alphabetical order!

They thrashed West Brom (a mere 3 places below them) convincingly in the League Cup, so there's some hope that Arsenal might score goals in the Premier League. But boy did City make it look like a top v bottom game today.

OK, City and Chelsea was always going to be difficult for Arsenal. It's a shame the Super League didn't happen as then they'd have ended up doing the opposite of the invincibles and won a golden wooden spoon!

[JayhawkCO]

Arsenal propped the table up once more for a few minutes between them conceding a fifth, and Norwich conceding. But since the forth (cheered by the Gooners) and until Leicester get a second, Arsenal have only escaped being bottom on alphabetical order!

They thrashed West Brom (a mere 3 places below them) convincingly in the League Cup, so there's some hope that Arsenal might score goals in the Premier League. But boy did City make it look like a top v bottom game today.

OK, City and Chelsea was always going to be difficult for Arsenal. It's a shame the Super League didn't happen as then they'd have ended up doing the opposite of the invincibles and won a golden wooden spoon!

Hate to see it. COYS

Chris

[Bruce]

USA loses 1-1 to Canada. Those dropped points are going to hurt later in the qualification phase.

And in other WCQ news of the day:

Brazil-Argentina was called off mid-play by Brazilian health officials after they discovered that the Argentine players based in the UK had not completed their required quarantine.

Guinea-Morocco was postponed due to a coup that left the away Morocco team trapped in their hotel room for a bit.

[NWI_Irish96]

USA loses 1-1 to Canada. Those dropped points are going to hurt later in the qualification phase.

They just don't want to go to Qatar.

[thspfc]

Brazil-Argentina was called off mid-play by Brazilian health officials after they discovered that the Argentine players based in the UK had not completed their required quarantine.

So many questions here. Are they vaccinated? If not, can't they get tested? Did they get tested? Are they all vaccinated, and all tested negative? If so, why is there a quarantine at all? And if there is a quarantine, is it really that important so as to abandon the game? Not to mention that Covid milder than a slap on the wrist to these athletes. What a joke.

[hotdogPi]

Not to mention that Covid milder than a slap on the wrist to these athletes.

While it probably won't kill them, it could prevent them from playing while they have it. (This would show itself in a later stage of the tournament, since you don't get COVID instantly.)

There are also the long-term effects, although I haven't heard that much about them recently.

[Stephane Dumas]

We don't see that often, a player who asked to stop the game to help a spectator who collapsed in the stands.
https://www.sportbible.com/football/sergio-reguilon-explains-heroic-actions-in-helping-newcastle-fan-20211017

Spurs left-back Sergio Reguilon revealed he told the referee to stop the game as he explained his heroics at St James' Park.

At the end of the first half, the game between Newcastle and Spurs was halted due to a medical emergency.

It later emerged that a fan had collapsed and was taken to a local hospital after being stabilised.

But the quick thinking from Reguilon was absolutely crucial. With it happening in the East Stand on the left side he was playing on, the former Sevilla man alerted referee Andre Marriner as Spurs prepared to take a corner.

https://twitter.com/SkySportsPL/status/1449798477651791875

[Bruce]

Probably one of the best places around to have a heart attack, given the number of medics at the venue and availability of equipment.

[JayhawkCO]

My Spurs fire Nuno (whom they never should have hired) and hire Antonio Conte, one of the top 8 or so managers in the world.  Considering this year has not gone great but we're not that far off top 4, I am mildly optimistic he can make the requisite changes to get us playing well.

Chris

[Bruce]

The MLS Cup Playoffs bracket:



As a weird quirk of this season, the Sounders will join Colorado and New England in the 2022 CONCACAF Champions League by taking the slot usually reserved for the US Open Cup. They were chosen as the highest-ranked U.S.-based MLS club that had not already qualified (say that three times fast).

[Buck87]

Western Conference Playoff picture:

Texas and California (6 teams) - out of the playoffs

Everyone else (7 teams) - in the playoffs