Fútbol chatter

[Bruce]

The 2014-15 UEFA Champions League has come to an end with Barcelona as champion of European football.

The match was fairly exciting, but didn't really feel 100% like a cup final.

Pretty good way to kickoff (pun intended) a day of soccer. Next up is the Women's World Cup opener (Canada vs. China) and that's followed up by MLS.

[bing101]

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/united-passions-film-review-fifa-reaches-a-new-low-with-laughably-awful-film-about-its-history-10302294.html





FIFA movie gets bad reviews.

[Alps]

Lost in all of this is the Women's World Cup... USA had a great game with Australia; after coming out slow in the first half and Hope Solo salvaging a 1-1 tie, they broke it open in the second half and ran circles around the Matildas. Sweden game is at 20:00 EDT/19:00 Winnipeg local on Friday, and I plan to watch.

... Anyone else remember when women's soccer was cool? Mid 90s? Ish? I still think it's cool.

[SignGeek101]

I don't know if anyone knew, but the stadium in Winnipeg where they play is right next to the University of Manitoba. Since I'm attending classes there, traffic has understandably been backed up in the evening. Security is a bit tight of course, and roads have been closed off. Makes it a bit of a pain to get home from school, but it's a massive sporting event, so, what are you going to do.

Always interesting seeing the different licence plates on the vehicles parked in the one parking lot though. That, and the continuous amount of buses streaming in all at once.

[mgk920]

I don't know if anyone knew, but the stadium in Winnipeg where they play is right next to the University of Manitoba. Since I'm attending classes there, traffic has understandably been backed up in the evening. Security is a bit tight of course, and roads have been closed off. Makes it a bit of a pain to get home from school, but it's a massive sporting event, so, what are you going to do.

Always interesting seeing the different licence plates on the vehicles parked in the one parking lot though. That, and the continuous amount of buses streaming in all at once.

Is that the same stadium where the Blue Bombers play their home games?

Mike

[SignGeek101]

I don't know if anyone knew, but the stadium in Winnipeg where they play is right next to the University of Manitoba. Since I'm attending classes there, traffic has understandably been backed up in the evening. Security is a bit tight of course, and roads have been closed off. Makes it a bit of a pain to get home from school, but it's a massive sporting event, so, what are you going to do.

Always interesting seeing the different licence plates on the vehicles parked in the one parking lot though. That, and the continuous amount of buses streaming in all at once.

Is that the same stadium where the Blue Bombers play their home games?

Mike

Yup, it's called Investors Group Field. Although they covered that name with a Fifa banner for the events.

[english si]

Watching the France-England game, I noticed that this clash of two mid-tier teams with wealthy home nations and lots of ties to Canada couldn't fill up the 10000 seat stadium (the smallest by some way) at Moncton.

Then I realised that early afternoon on a Tuesday is not the best time to be attracting locals.

[SignGeek101]

Watching the France-England game, I noticed that this clash of two mid-tier teams with wealthy home nations and lots of ties to Canada couldn't fill up the 10000 seat stadium (the smallest by some way) at Moncton.

Then I realised that early afternoon on a Tuesday is not the best time to be attracting locals.

And, honestly, Canada is more known for its hockey as most people know. I think there is a little bit of a lack of interest here, compared to Europe or Asia. You don't see flags on people's cars for a particular soccer (football) team very often. It depends on where in Canada too I guess.

[bing101]

http://www.businessinsider.com/report-fifa-sepp-blatter-might-not-resign-2015-6


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/sepp-blatter/11673751/Sepp-Blatter-considering-staying-on-as-Fifa-president.html


Sepp Blatter Might keep his Fifa Seat.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Once again, bad luck has struck Real Zaragoza, a Spanish 2nd tier team, which will have to face SD Huesca next season. Back in 2008, they had made a team which was intended to get them to Europe... only to be relegated, and then SD Huesca made through the play-offs and got promoted, so they had to face each other. This time, though, another team got even worse luck: Girona FC. They had direct promotion in their hands, however Lugo tied their match at the last moment and relegated them to the promotion play-offs, benefiting Sporting in the process. So Girona FC and Real Zaragoza, which managed to qualify despite having 21 points less, had to play each other. Girona FC won the first match 0-3, and when Las Palmas advanced to the play-off final, a TV news showed this...


... but that match never happened, as Real Zaragoza managed to top the previous result defeating Girona FC by 1-4 (the aggregate results in a tie, however Real Zaragoza advanced by virtue of having scored more goals away). But then the same thing happened to them, they won Las Palmas by 3-1 but then lost 2-0, forcing them to stay one season more in 2nd tier. And SD Huesca has just get promoted (after being given a 2nd opportunity in the play-offs), and this means a regional match will be held next season.

[Bruce]

A little late, but here are my pictures from the Seattle-Portland match at CenturyLink Field in Seattle on August 30. 64K in attendance on a day with some shifting weather (downpour during the March to the Match and sunshine during the match itself).


Seattle skyline from CenturyLink Field by SounderBruce, on Flickr


King Street Station and Union Station complex by SounderBruce, on Flickr


Seattle skyline from CenturyLink Field by SounderBruce, on Flickr


March to the Match at Occidental Park by SounderBruce, on Flickr


ECS member holding Supporters Shield by SounderBruce, on Flickr


Sounders-Timbers from Section 324 by SounderBruce, on Flickr


Attendance: 64,358 by SounderBruce, on Flickr


Flamethrowers at full time by SounderBruce, on Flickr


Sounders fans leaving north gate by SounderBruce, on Flickr


CenturyLink Field panorama from Section 324 by SounderBruce, on Flickr

[Bruce]

Time to revive this thread.

Gianni Infantino has been elected as the new president of FIFA, marking the end of Blatter's reign of corruption (one would hope). In the same meeting, a huge reform measure was approved and will dissolve the Executive Committee and re-form it under a larger council that will try to lessen the role of the president. There's a ton of other initiatives in the reform measure, explained by this animated video below:

Also, candidate Tokyo Sexwale (yes, that's his real birth name) resigned on stage after giving his speech. A fitting end.

[mgk920]

Any thoughts about Leicester City now being 8 standings points up in the Premier League as of this typing with three games to play (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw)?  Second place Tottenham Hotspur plays game 35 of their 38-game season against West Bromwich Albion on Monday night (mid afternoon, USA time).

BTW, 4th place Arsenal was mathematically eliminated from championship contention today with their scoreless draw v. Sunderland (that point may have saved Sunderland from relegation) and Leicester City's 4-0 win v. Swansea.

Mike

[Alps]

Any thoughts about Leicester City now being 8 standings points up in the Premier League as of this typing with three games to play (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw)?  Second place Tottenham Hotspur plays game 35 of their 38-game season against West Bromwich Albion on Monday night (mid afternoon, USA time).

BTW, 4th place Arsenal was mathematically eliminated from championship contention today with their scoreless draw v. Sunderland (that point may have saved Sunderland from relegation) and Leicester City's 4-0 win v. Swansea.

Mike

Thoughts: What the hell happened this season?

[english si]

Thoughts: What the hell happened this season?

A team with amazing form to pull off a great escape kept going and stayed with that 9-game form for the whole next season? Quite why the odds were 5000/1 at the beginning of the season (the highest winning odds for any single sporting feat*), beats me. It was unlikely, but not that unlikely.

They won promotion from the Championship on April 5th 2014, and clocked up 102 points - which is very good form and should have meant midtable finish in the Premier League the season later. April 5th 2015 saw them 7 points below the 19th placed club and then they won seven out the last 9 to double their points tally and come 14th (which was roughly where everyone placed them at the beginning of the season). On April 5th 2016 they were were 7 points above 2nd place and (unlike Barca) have kept their lead (OK, it's now 5 points if Spurs win their game in hand as they dropped points at West Ham).

Arguably, the best thing about it isn't that the underdogs doing well getting their just reward (English culture's wet dream), but that Americans have worked out how to pronounce Lester and we'll hear Lie-ces-ter Square no more!

And, after about 5 years of just scraping through by managing to rack up enough really boring 0-0 draws, Villa are down! Very happy about that! The two-from-three fight to avoid the remaining relegation places is heating up - Sunderland and Newcastle getting draws against top clubs making it incredibly close. That fighting for survival is something American sports miss out on. There would be nothing to care about at the tail end of the season, but some cup finals and whether Leicester can get 5 points from 3 matches. But instead we have three teams trying to be the one that avoids the drop that means they are going off to spend next season playing tons of games with the likes of Burton Albion, Rotherham, Huddersfield, etc with a lot less money floating around.

Sadly Stoke and Everton collapsing will keep Chelsea in single digits (though, barring a drop of form of the teams above them, it looks like 9th). I know the form under Mourinio was shocking, but they got to mid-table with a short run of wins, and have stayed there ever since. If they hadn't had that dip in form, they would only really be at Liverpool's level - which is poor, though shows how vital Hazard is to them.

The Leicester fairy story has overshadowed Bournemouth's far bigger one. A tiny club who, just 7 years ago, were facing relegation from the football league and going out of business. They took a 31 year old former player (injury cutting short his career) who was the youth coach and made him manager. They got to safety, and despite the transfer embargo (for financial issues), he got them promoted (attracting a lot of attention, though he turned them down until Burnley called. He laid down a foundation for them to stop falling) and they stayed up in League One on the foundation he gave. He returned and they got promoted again, and the next season finished 10th in the Championship - which is hard enough even when you haven't just come up to the big boys table. The next season and they got to the Premier League, earning him all sorts of awards for his management (baring in mind he's incredibly young for a top manager), including 'Manager of the Decade', an award invented for him, who hasn't even been managing for a decade. They are safe and merely coasting to the season's end, but next year they could get top half.

*Given someone is skipping my birthday party to go to the Lane to watch Spurs tonight, I'm assuming the Karma Police will be there and the Baggies will win, giving Leicester just needing two more points in three games - something that is inevitable.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Any thoughts about Leicester City now being 8 standings points up in the Premier League as of this typing with three games to play (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw)?  Second place Tottenham Hotspur plays game 35 of their 38-game season against West Bromwich Albion on Monday night (mid afternoon, USA time).

BTW, 4th place Arsenal was mathematically eliminated from championship contention today with their scoreless draw v. Sunderland (that point may have saved Sunderland from relegation) and Leicester City's 4-0 win v. Swansea.

If Tottenham losses, Leicester will be only one point away from the title. BTW, I'm not surprised about Arsenal's placement, they always seem to get 4th place.

On April 5th 2016 they were were 7 points above 2nd place and (unlike Barca) have kept their lead (OK, it's now 5 points if Spurs win their game in hand as they dropped points at West Ham).

What has happened to Barça is really crazy. Just before El Clásico, they were leading with 9 points over Atlético and 10 points over Real Madrid, and as such many said they had already clinched the league. But then they lost three consecutive matches, so both Atlético and Real Madrid have caught up. Even worse, Atlético sent them home in the Champions League after making a comeback in the return match. Barça has scored 14 goals in the last two games (!), but Atlético (tied) and Real Madrid (one point behind) are holding up. And there are only three games left...

[rawmustard]

If Tottenham losses, Leicester will be only one point away from the title. BTW, I'm not surprised about Arsenal's placement, they always seem to get 4th place.

Technically it's two because Spurs could still get to 77 and if Leicester only pick up one point in their last three games, Spurs would win on goal difference. Before tonight's fixture, Leicester's magic number was 5 points for the title. One of the most thrilling aspects being a Chelsea supporter is that we get to play role of spoiler as we're the only common opponent left. (We host Tottenham next week and Leicester in the final game of the season.)

EDIT: And now Leicester only need a win, a Spurs loss, or both sides to draw to take the title since West Bromwich Albion were able to equalize and hold for a draw tonight.

[english si]

^^ no Spurs players scored (Dawson getting both the goals - in common parlance 'at both ends of the pitch', but as they were in different halves, it was the same end). Doesn't bode well for them picking up the 7 points they need in three games to what they need to.

I'm sure several Chelsea players will happily make 'mistakes' (like Spurs players did in 99) to make sure that their local rivals don't win the league if the side they are playing aren't up to the task of beating them.

[Alps]

What has happened to Barça is really crazy. Just before El Clásico, they were leading with 9 points over Atlético and 10 points over Real Madrid, and as such many said they had already clinched the league. But then they lost three consecutive matches, so both Atlético and Real Madrid have caught up. Even worse, Atlético sent them home in the Champions League after making a comeback in the return match. Barça has scored 14 goals in the last two games (!), but Atlético (tied) and Real Madrid (one point behind) are holding up. And there are only three games left...

So... this is really arcane, but is it Barca or Barça in common parlance? I always assumed the former, but there is no parlance stateside.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

It's Barça, pronounced 'barsa'. It's also the most hated team by me, to the point the term 'Barça' has become synonymous with 'shit' .

[english si]

In English it's "Barca" as we have soft-c sounds and don't really do accents.

[rawmustard]

In English it's "Barca" as we have soft-c sounds and don't really do accents.

I think it has more to do with many people not knowing or caring how to type the "ç" character. A tangent to this is my slight annoyance when people mispronounce "Blue Curaçao" with a hard C on the last syllable, despite the fact that the cedilla is on the bottle.

[english si]

I think it has more to do with many people not knowing or caring how to type the "ç" character.

That's not doing accents!

Leicester's title lap of honor has hit the first hurdle - down to 10 men for a fairly harsh second yellow (though they got away with the foul being in the box with it being given just outside), but they just have to weather this storm and get a cheeky injury time goal and it is theirs.

[rawmustard]

And Leicester City are champions of England! Spurs just couldn't hold their two-goal lead at halftime, and thus are held to a 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge.

LGLS991

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Heck, Leicester City was in Champioship (tier 2) just two seasons ago. I like how they got promoted by a manager with last name Pearson... the same season I befriended a little kid who had the misfortune of suffering from Pearson syndrome. Also that same season Atlético won La Liga, and they could win it again.

And now I mention Atlético, they have just got into the UEFA Champions League final after losing 2-1 to Bayern but having won 1-0 in the first leg. Even though the aggregate is a draw, Atlético qualified thanks to the goal they scored away. If Real Madrid also gets to the final (due to be played in Milan, Italy on May 28 at 2:45 p.m.) Atlético could take a revenge from what they did two years ago.