fdl

(from the world cup thread)

JediMindTricks

not too surprised with nedved staying at juve. he's nearing the end of his career too.

but i'd have expected buffon to move.

F-C

What the?!?!

The verdict on the appeals by the 4 punished clubs are in:
Juventus stay in B with –17pts. Lazio and Fiorentina back in A with 11 and 19 point deduction. Milan see their Serie A penalty reduced to 8 from 15.

FastAcura

So it's safe to say that Juve will be back in Serie A next year.

It looks like Van Niestelroy will go to Bayern afterall.

F-C

Not necessarily, -17 is still a big number. The would be de-powered with the loss of a lot of their star players, and they would have to contend with clubs like Bologna, Brescia, Napoli, Lecce.

kurt_bradley

It's going to be no cake walk for them to get back up. I'm going to laugh when they lose a couple games this season because of the chip on their shoulder.

FastAcura

I will make a bet with anyone that they will be in serie A next year, and I really dislike Juventus ever since that Werder Bremen game last year. How many games have they lost last season in serie A? 2 or 3 I believe. Even without the star players, I'm sure that they will have a good enough team/youth program to be in the top 3. 17 points is only 5 wins and two ties out of 34 games.

F-C

Yeah, they lost only a couple of games last year, or the last dacade. But remember how they did that? They did it by cheating. If the influence of Moggi and the rest of his cheating mafia buddies are really kicked out of the game, then we will finally have a clean league. There is no way that a de-powered Juventus will lose only 2-3 matches in a clean league.

moonraker

then i suggest you change your avatar! haha even if it is an oldschool juve zidane.


yea ruud was at manutd practice today but im sure he will go to bayern by the beginning of the season.. no sense keeping an unhappy player at utd

also, fernando torres (being linked various places) has said he's staying with atletico madrid. valencia then asked manutd to name their price for cristiano ronaldo haha

i love transfer time and all the rumors etc. anyone see damien duff signed with newcastle?! what idiots, he's not bad but he's overrated.. plus they dont need offense they need some defense to start with

FastAcura

happy?

F-C

Is that a trading card?

JJ4Short

http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer

think this channel will last?

F-C

What are you talking about? It's been around for almost 10 years.

FastAcura

I've had it for years, when it was known as Fox Sports World.

F-C

FIGC has just awarded the 2005/06 scudetto to Inter.
x14

moonraker

ahh yes fsw glory days haha. yea its holdin strong for some time now. i just hope it keeps goin like it is. its one of our few sources of euro soccer in the usa. would really suck balls if we lost it!

and juve is getting owned left and right haha i love it. appeal after appeal lets see what happens once theyre all done appealing every other decision. less than a month til all the seasons get underway, fuck yea

F-C

Unfortunately, all those appeals by the guilty four might delay Serie A until October. That sucks, since I'm going to Milan in September.

TheThirdMan

Ruud @ Real

F-C

Inter grabs Ibrahimovic in a shock move this morning from Juventus! That was a total surprise for me, since Inter grabbed Hernan Crespo earlier this week from Chelsea. With Crespo and Ibrahimovic now at Inter, it looks like either Adriano or Martins might be the man out.

I can't believe Inter poached two strikers right out from AC Milan's radar.

Photoshopped picture of Ibrahimovic in nerazzurri colors:

It's going to be odd seeing that on him after years in the black and white of Juventus.

btsilver

anyone watch the match between Dc united and real madrid?

F-C

Didn't even know they were scheduled to play. Who won? Did anyone from Real Madrid even show up?

gocubsgo55

Come on you Gunners!

FastAcura

MLS "all stars" beat Chelsea on Saturday in Chicago 1-0.

Werder Bremen signed German defender Mertesacker.

Werder Bremen beat Bayern Munich 2-0 to secure the German Ligapokal.

Bundesliga starts tomorrow

gocubsgo55

yay, its back! glad to see some fellow UEFA-affliate junkies

F-C

What a combination this year! Best attack in Europe.

-----------------Toldo-----------------
Zanetti-Materazzi-Samuel-Grosso
Cambiasso---Vieira-----------Figo
---------------Ibrahinovic-----------
--------Crespo----Adriano---------

tdhillon

Inter is def putting a wonderful squad together for this upcoming season. i'm still pissed that all those involved in the scandal got there punishments lightened. I mean come on, to say "oh we were too harsh" when all involved were clearly cheating really angered me. I thought AC should have been if not relegated to B, should have had a major disadvantage in points, and should not have been allowed in the Champions league for 2 years...but no they're in this year, and they don't have much of a point loss. Juve got a golden deal as well, they'll be back in A next year.

Side note: Can't believe Carrick gets hurt in his first game for Man U, and i'm happy Chelsea won't be buying A. Cole from the Gunners, he's a great back, and Arsenal should do everything to keep him.

Anyone think Chelsea will not win the Premiership this year, cause i hope to god they don't.

FastAcura

I think Chelsea will be the team to beat this year (not just in England.) They already had a great squad and then they added Shevchenko and Ballack.

Lampard, Ballack and Essien...what a midfield

TheThirdMan

if anyone is watching Real Madrid v. Real Salt Lake, My friend from Highschool just got a yellow in the box and Madrid scored on the PK

FastAcura

They are showing the rerun of Barca against New York Red Bulls from last night on Fox Soccer Channel right now.

TheThirdMan

you missed liverpool beat chealsea to take the Community Shield

From Madrird game:thats my buddy

FastAcura

I watched the first half. What happened to Ballack?

This Barca game is one of the best games I've seen this year (including the world cup.) Those Eto'o runs were phenomenal. Barca should have been up 4-0 by the 30th minute. Let's hope Messi puts a few away.

Barcelona could field 2 teams and win the Champion's League with both of them.

moonraker

ok ok i know its very early on in the premiership but daaaamn man utd is on fire

5-1 over fulham
3-0 over charlton

yea yea not the toughest competition but still, the boys are lookin quite good, scoring coming from all over the place. ronaldo is actually being effective along with his skills, wing play is great. even oldballs solskjaer scored today! haha

and chelski lost to boro. always good

gocubsgo55

Arsenal 2 (5) - Dinamo Zagreb 1 (1)

and yes, Chelsky lost! Great day, and dont forget tomarrow is the CL draw.

F-C

POT 1
Inter (ITA)
Milan (ITA)
Barcelona (SPA)
Real Madrid (SPA)
Liverpool (ENG)
Arsenal (ENG)
Manchester United (ENG)
Valencia (SPA)

POT 2
Olympique Lyon (FRA)
Porto (POR)
PSV Eindhoven (NED)
Bayern Munich (GER)
Chelsea (ENG)
Roma (ITA)
Celtic (SCO)
Lille (FRA)

POT 3
Sporting Lisbon (POR)
Benfica (POR)
Bordeaux (FRA)
Steaua Bucharest (ROM)
Werder Bremen (GER
Olympiacos (GRE)
CSKA Moscow (RUS)
AEK Athens (GRE)

POT 4
Anderlecht (BEL)
Dynamo Kiev (UKR)
Levski Sofia (BUL)
Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)
Galatasaray (TUR)
Hamburg (GER)
Spartak Moscow (RUS)
Copenaghen (DEN)

FastAcura

Haha, Bayern lost 4-0 against Barcelona on Tuesday. The Barcelona squad is looking scary.

Those Champions League pots are BS. Werder Bremen advanced from the group stage twice in the last two years against teams like Valenica and Udinese and were 2 minutes away from eliminating Juventus last year. But actually I like it because I know that they will be playing top teams so they can prove themselves like they did against Barca last year.

Chelsea is in pot two, while Liverpool and Arsenal are in the first one. What has Manchester United done lately? Lyon should be ahead of half of those teams in pot 1. Roma in pot 2?

F-C

Those pots aren't based on current strength. It's based on past history in the Champions League. Chelsea hasn't done much in the Champions League, so they're in pot 2. Seems like a logical way of seeding if you ask me.

moonraker

yea i still havent decided if i like how they do that yet. one on hand it makes sense to base it on past performances just because it is the "champions" league.. past champions and ppl who came close. but on the other hand, that is all in the past and teams are totally different now, so it should be reflected on current squad's abilities.

i donno... if a team is THAT good now though, even if they get a shit ranking, they should still be able to take out upper echelon teams. oh well guess we'll just let them keep to their ways as we have no control over it.

i loved mourinho's reactions to the pots though... guess he didnt understand the concept that they base it on past performance... and chelsea hasnt performed in CL yet.

F-C

I think the system works because it is based on a tangible statistic...actual results. Even if a team is brilliant on paper, it needs to prove itself on the field. Chelsea hasn't done that, in the Champions League at least.

FastAcura

What exactly has inter done in the champion's league? Wasn't Chelsea in the semis two years ago? Valenica? Porto won it a few years ago and they are in the second Pot. PSV was in the final. When was the last time manchester did good? They didn't even advance past the group stage last year. Last year is "past history."

It doesn't really matter since the stronger teams will be advancing anyway.

FastAcura

I can't edit now, but it wasn't PSV in the final, it was Monaco. I think PSV was in the semis.

But if there's something to learn from this, it's that the past doesn't tell you much. Judging by the past, Inter and Chelsea should be in the third pot, but everyone knows that they are first pot caliber teams.

Anyway, I can't wait for the Champion's League to start. I hope Werder gets Barcelona, Chelsea and Galatasaray.