Football spam

[Deleted]

I don't know, Irene. None of my football sites have a story about the ruling. I'd expect at least a fine, of course.

[Deleted]

I just read on FIFA's site that Mourinho's ban has been overruled after an appeal. I didn't read the entire article, but it was a one-game ban and, I assume, an accompanying fine. Whether or not he'd actually be allowed on the sidelines of Wednesday's game wouldn't affect the outcome, I don't think. Auxerre isn't our biggest threat.

ETA: It was Fox Sports, not FIFA's site, where I originally read the article about Mourinho's ban being overturned. However, just now I read another article on that same site that said he will be sitting out tomorrow's match against Twente. Either way, we sit a top the group and are sure to move onto the next round, so I'm not concerned about it. Not surprisingly, the article said Real Madrid will be resting several of its regulars tomorrow. It will be good to see what our second-string and younger players can do. Unfortunately, I strongly doubt the game will be broadcast here. I may have to try to suffer through reading the streaming "commentary" online.

[shred]

So now that the group stages are done and dusted, who would you like to see your team face in the knock-out stage? Draw is being done on the 17th.

I don't mind any team to be honest. I'm glad we are avoiding the Spanish clubs at this stage.

[Deleted]

That's Kyle's thinking, too. He wanted to finish so that Man Utd would avoid Barca and RM.

RM's site had this as one of their headlines:
Inter, Lyon, Kobenhavn, Roma and Marseille are Real Madrid's possible opponents

However, later in the "article" they listed Arsenal in place of Lyon, so I'm not sure exactly who our possible opponents are. I'm not worried about any of the teams. I don't know if it would be better to be pitted against Inter or Arsenal (if they're actually on our possible list) as they're two of the stronger teams or wait to face them later if they remain in the running. We're doing quite well, despite our absolutely horrible loss to Barca, and could knock either of those teams out, I'm sure.

[Nico]

I hate that they still use the seeding methods.

[Deleted]

I watched the first bit of the Man Utd/Arsenal game this afternoon & apparently Arsenal is in our sights for the next round of Champions League. They have a 50/50 chance of playing either us or Barcelona. Wouldn't mind having to play them first.

[shred]

That match wasn't as exciting as previous games but it was a good game nonetheless! Sooo glad we won! We are now on top with a game in hand. Chelsea is up next this weekend and that would be a harder task as we'll be away from home as well. SHould be a cracking game though.

I love English football during the Christmas period! ;D

[Deleted]

I was sooooooooooo tired yesterday that even though I had the game on and was trying to watch it, I started falling asleep. I heard the commentators call Man Utd's goal and then fell asleep--with most of the game left to be played!

[shred]

No football talk in a month?!

The January transfer window closed yesterday and the biggest transfer news would be Torres leaving Liverpool for Chelsea. Lost all respect for him.

ManU didn't get anyone, which doesn't bother me as I'm happy with the squad. Any transfer news with your teams gals?

[Deleted]

After Mou saying that Real Madrid wasn't in the market for a striker, after Higuain's surgery news, he signs Adebayor. I don't know what to think. The news has been receiving mixed reviews online. I really don't know anything about him, so I can't form a good opinion, but when I saw it I somewhat cringed, so I wonder if something happened with him at the World Cup that I have a negative association with his name.

I'm rather upset that we signed, quite honestly. We all know I'm not a Benzema fan, but he has been working to prove himself lately. We're the luckiest team in the world having CR7, and we have a great young Castilla player who's being primed as a striker. I think he was on the roster for one game (it could be more, only one game has been televised this year and it wasn't even the Classic, so that tells you something about how I'm getting my news) and I don't think he received too much playing time in that game, either, so I don't really think Mou's giving him a fair chance. However, as I said, no football on TV = I can't see these players for myself and I have to work off news reports and blogs, which makes it hard to form a reasonable opinion on anything.

[shred]

After Higuain's injury, I'm not surprise that Mourinho signed a striker. Just a little surprised that it was Adebayor. He's a good player when he was at Arsenal but not the same caliber as Real's players in my opinion. It's only a loan deal so there's a high chance he won't stick around after the season.

I heard Real lost their last match. Can't see them catching up with Barca now.

[Deleted]

Yeah, to Osasuna of all sides. Who'd've thunk it? I posted later that day on Facebook that I firmly believe that game cost us the league. However, we are still doing well in Copa del Rey and Champions League, so there's hope there.

Regarding the signing, he said for weeks after knowledge of Higuain's surgery was made known to the press that he would not be signing anyone. That's what gets me. And the fact that I firmly believe he didn't give Morata (I believe is his name) from our Castilla side a fair enough chance. Why not promote from the inside instead of signing a new player (likely for more money) when possible, especially when it's only a loan deal? It's certainly possible that Morata is simply not up to the task yet, but as I said, it's not like we don't have Benzema and CR7, too. I hope Adebayor's not sticking around after the season once Higuain's back. That would just piss me off. Now that VDV is at Tottenham, Higuain is becoming my favorite player, and he doesn't need to be shunted by a second-rate loaner.

[shred]

I'm probably guessing you guys didn't watch the Manchester derby yesterday but an epic goal was scored by Rooney to win the match.

Words cannot describe how brilliant this goal was.

[Deleted]

No, I didn't see the derby, but Kyle promptly posted video of it on Facebook. I was at work for a bit in the afternoon, if it even aired here at all. I would've watch it if I could have, though.

[shred]

CL have started. My boys play next week and I'll be back in NZ by then. So it's nice to watch football on TV again.

Huge match between Barca and Arsenal tomorrow. Doubt Arsenal will get anything out of it.

[Deleted]

I'm expecting Barca to win. They're not airing the match here, at least not live. They did show the Tottenham match from yesterday later at night, so we'll see if they show this one at all.

The Valencia match yesterday rather bored me. Tottenham's match was superb.

They played very well and didn't give into Milan, and especially Carttuso (who SO should have been red carded and not allowed to play for most of the second half), who was trying to make it a physical game and get a couple fights going. Overall, I thought the ref did a fine job. I was just upset after a while that Carttuso was only shown a yellow. He was doing everything in his power to be thrown out, including hitting the Tottenham coach! And then, toward the end of the match, Ibrahimovic two-hand pushes a Spurs player, gets the ball in the net, and then gets mad when the ref calls him on shoving and disallows the goal. That side made me so mad last night! But, like I said, Tottenham didn't give in to their bully attempts and deserved the win in more ways than one, I thought. I posted a rant on Facebook last night, too, but they only allow me to do it in 420 characters--glad I could get that off my chest!

Van Der Vaart is being allowed to shine much more at Tottenham than ever would have been at RM. He played very, very well last night. He even got a shot on goal, but the Milan keeper easily caught it. I've become quite the Tottenham fan since his trade at the start of the season.

I will be anxious when Madrid resumes CL play next week against Lyon. They really shouldn't have any problems winning, but they're my boys, so you know how that goes.

[shred]

Barca lost! Shocking! Still don't think Arsenal will get anything out of it though. They'll be thrashed in the 2nd leg.

Sooo glad Spurs won that game! Milan was just ridiculous with their playing tactics. I really hope Gattuso gets a long ban for his tussle with the Spurs coach!

[Deleted]

Honestly, after all the crap Gattuso pulled--including the spats with the Spurs coach both during and after the match--he deserves a ban. He should have been red carded far earlier in the match and Milan forced to play a man down. One of the commentators mentioned that Milan was lucky they weren't having to play a man down at the start of the second half due to some other player's antics. Milan was just being reckless and physical. I mean, Gattuso was trying to spar with anyone and everyone. It looked like a bloody hockey game! I was very proud that the Spurs players never gave into him--and VDV had a good game.

Was very surprised about Barcelona's loss. They will certainly come back with a vengeance in the second leg, but it's a reminder that they're not perfect and I hope it gives Real Madrid some hope and a bit of extra fire for the spring Classic.

[shred]

All our teams - ManU, Real, Spurs - are through to the next round.

Draw for the quarterfinals is tomorrow.

[shred]

Last 8 draw:

Real Madrid v Tottenham Hotspur
Chelsea v Manchester United
Barcelona v Shakhtar
Inter v Schalke

Semi-finals:

Inter/Schalke v Chelsea/Manchester United
Real Madrid/Tottenham Hotspur v Barcelona/Shakhtar


Quarter-finals - 5/6 and 12/13 April
Semi-finals - 26/27 April and 3/4 May
Final - 28 May


That Spurs/RM match is going to be huge. Definitely rooting for Spurs for that one.