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The 2012-2013 Football Thread
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Edit: who would have thought that Ecuador ranks tenth worldwide
They've gotten quite good again. Nice blend of youth and experience. Benitez and Caicedo, flameouts in England, have both been on excellent form for country lately.
I've been trying to follow the CONMEBOL qualifiers as closely as I can, and they have a good chance at returning to the World Cup. They've been grinding out a lot of tough 1-0 victories, so the defensive lapses are a bit surprising even taking into account the Germans' attacking quality.
Belgium is my dark horse World Cup squad, assuming they qualify. They have quality all over the pitch, and now with Benteke and Lukaku in form, they should be able to score pretty freely.
You want another diving racist biter?
Well, whoever we replace him with us sure to be more popular with the media!
If Suarez goes the Premier League will be dull. No Barton, no Ballotelli, no Suarez...
Yeah as my buddies and i were watching we kept asking ourselves how do they not make it into the WC ?
then we realized where they have to qualify, Europe*.
If you are a fan of USMNT you should be very thankful we live in the western hemisphere, and for CONCACAF!
*yes,yes, they probably are one of the 2 best teams in their group but only the winner qualifies automatically. 2nd pace will have to win a playoff to get into the WC.
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Rumors are that Suarez has agreed personal terms with Madrid. Similarly Shurrle has agreed terms with Chelsea. Both waiting for their respective clubs to negotiate a transfer fee.
Also Leonardo has been slapped with a 9-month ban.
Also Leonardo has been slapped with a 9-month ban.
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Belgium is a great team they have many young players who have been playing for top clubs around Europe.
They tend to play better away from home, they base their play on the counter attack.
Perhaps, but if the US was located in Europe we'd probably be a top 3 footballing nation...
Wolves have named former Millwall boss Kenny Jackett as their new Head Coach.
I wonder how long this one will last?
I wonder how long this one will last?
I was surprised, too, that they rank tenth. Not that I really have the FIFA-ranking in my memory anyway ;-) (well, FIFA-ranking can be misleading, though).Yea, I was rooting for Ecuador! Awesome that they made the second goal...but have to admit that I only noticed there was a game today because my girlfriend wanted to pause the BluRay yet hit the source button and switched to ARD
Edit: who would have thought that Ecuador ranks tenth worldwide
Edit II: uff, 8.3s for the first goal? not bad, have to have a look at youtube
Edit III: and on sunday going against Klinsi and his boys...I'll definitely root for Ger in that game
I thought after what the media said about Bierhoff said about Podolski, we could finally get rid of him (in the past, I sometimes felt that Podolski is a risk in big tournaments - or that there are better players available, which Löw tends to let sit on the bench.). But after the way he has shown himself in the match against Ecuador, I guess we (or better say I) will have to live with him a bit longer. Yes, he looked great (despite standing in the wall and opening it, misleading Adler's reaction and helping Ecuador getting the second goal), but I hope he will hold this up and not think "I have shown one time, that I am good, so now I can relax again." I find him too relaxed anyway (well not relaxed, let's better say not caring).
I liked to see that we have hope for a future good striker in Kruse. I wasn't that aware of him at Freiburg. (Interestingly he got sold for 2,5millions - I always forget how millions translate in english, is it billions? - to Mönchen Gladbach).
What makes me headaches is, that the players said, they couldn't stand the climate, which must have been the reason for the second half. Should this not be the same for the A-team during the WC in Brasil?
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I read that Tymoshchuk said to a russian radio station, that Heynckes goes to Real Madrid. Heynkes commented, that they were kidding from time to time about that, but that he will say something about it (whether or not) on Saturday after the DFB-Pokal Finale.
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listened to an interesting interview with a filmmaker who had made a 90minute documentary about Bundesliga Coaches. It is a "study" about why coaches get fired in such short times and what they actually ad to the teams and the matches. Klopp said, that it is not so much the tactics or that he could teach them something, but to make them able to mentally master unknown situations. As reason why coaches get fired so fast, the filmmaker listed: a) managers are not familiar with football, b) they feel pressure form the media and act accordingly, c) the team and the coach don't fit. A+B) being the main reason.
If someone understands German: you can listen to or read the interview here http://www.dradio.de/dkultur/sendungen/thema/2127638/
The film will be send on Monday. You can visit WDR.de and look, if you can find a livestream for 22.45 o'clock or a stored 7-day-lasting stream there.
Not a big Poldi fan myself, also not totally convinced about Schürrle, but with him and Götze, (not to forget nice future prospects Draxler, probably Hermann) in the mix, we have enough competition on that position to get the best out of him/them.
Also not a big fan of Löw, but he's got a little bit of a black eye (blaues Auge) since Italy, and more than rightly so, that means no more excuses for him as well - ergo don't think he'll bring in Poldi or whoever if s.o.else is obviously a better choice, he has to save his own butt. I truly hope so!
Haven't seen Kruse playing but read a lot about him over the course of this season. I'm kinda worried about the striker position. Not a big fan (lol) of Gomez and would hate to be dependend on Klose. And no love for Kießling - dat poor guy!
Also not a big fan of Löw, but he's got a little bit of a black eye (blaues Auge) since Italy, and more than rightly so, that means no more excuses for him as well - ergo don't think he'll bring in Poldi or whoever if s.o.else is obviously a better choice, he has to save his own butt. I truly hope so!
Haven't seen Kruse playing but read a lot about him over the course of this season. I'm kinda worried about the striker position. Not a big fan (lol) of Gomez and would hate to be dependend on Klose. And no love for Kießling - dat poor guy!
+1 for Kießling
(Also remember how Wolfsburg struggled against 3rd league FC Offenbach this year's DFB-Pokal and remember how 2nd league SpVgg Greuther Fürth did in the semi against Dortmund. Now after one season in the 1st Bundesliga they go back to the second league).
I remembered your post, when I heard that Bayern got kicked out of the DFB-Pokal in the 90ies by 4th league team FC Magdeburg
(Also remember how Wolfsburg struggled against 3rd league FC Offenbach this year's DFB-Pokal and remember how 2nd league SpVgg Greuther Fürth did in the semi against Dortmund. Now after one season in the 1st Bundesliga they go back to the second league).
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To be fair, it hasn't helped us any.
At least you have the best league in the world. Still worth something to see all those foreign chaps play some decent ball.
I remembered your post, when I heard that Bayern got kicked out of the DFB-Pokal in the 90ies by 4th league team FC Magdeburg
as an update: that 3. League team won that cup final 2 days ago
.. so FC Pasching will join the big league squads in the last qualification round before the euro league group stage...kudos to them winning though: the won against 3 first division squads in a row (which are ironically on position 1. 2. 3. the three best squads of austria)
Gladbach payed only 2.5 million for Kruse ? ... hilarious low transfer for a player who nearly carried Freiburg alone into the EURO League
in the match-day reviews he always seemed dangerous, creating also many goal scoring opportunities for his team mates. Looks like he has become much more visible when being pushed up the field ... i don't remember him at all from St. Pauli where he played much deeper
another new favourite for me this Bundesliga season was Kevin Volland ... too bad that Hoffenheim snatched him up .. i suspect within 1-2 years we will see him transfer to a bigger club
in the match-day reviews he always seemed dangerous, creating also many goal scoring opportunities for his team mates. Looks like he has become much more visible when being pushed up the field ... i don't remember him at all from St. Pauli where he played much deeper
another new favourite for me this Bundesliga season was Kevin Volland ... too bad that Hoffenheim snatched him up .. i suspect within 1-2 years we will see him transfer to a bigger club
Fully agree about Volland, Takao. Since I'm rooting for Berlin, I'm kinda happy that Düsseldorf just went down, although it means Hoffenheim's staying in the 1. Bundesliga. Volland should go to Dortmund nd everybody's happy.
About Kruse: he's got obvioulsy too much quality to stay in Freiburg, hope he does well in Gladbach next season. But it's quite sad to see Freiburg losing, what, 6-7 players this year. Still incredible that they played about the qualification for the CL until the very end!
About Kruse: he's got obvioulsy too much quality to stay in Freiburg, hope he does well in Gladbach next season. But it's quite sad to see Freiburg losing, what, 6-7 players this year. Still incredible that they played about the qualification for the CL until the very end!
To be fair, it hasn't helped us any.
Well, since you invented the game, you should have inserted a rule in there somewhere that stipulates that England must always win. You only have yourself to blame.
At least you have the best league in the world. Still worth something to see all those foreign chaps play some decent ball.
The Champions League final may have been all German this year, but it was played in our stadium to our rules so I reckon we ought to claim it as a victory for English football.Well, since you invented the game, you should have inserted a rule in there somewhere that stipulates that England must always win. You only have yourself to blame.
It's sad to see that Kruse never really got a real chance during Schaaf's reign in Bremen so it seems, same goes for Harnik. But I suppose that will change now with Dutt.
Volland may make a move this summer to god knows where, we shall see.
Higuain hands in his 2 weeks notice. I wish we could land him but i know Juve have more pulling power.
Also, Bayern/Heynckes complete the treble.
Also, Bayern/Heynckes complete the treble.
well for higuain it were 6,5 years .. after such a time, i think a player can move on ... for real madrid it means they'll need another striker
Benzema is great for the game but he isn't a finisher on the same level IMHO.
an interesting statistic after the Bayern game: Lahm played a combined 48 games this season having 19 assists while receiving only _2_ yellow cards
The Champions League final may have been all German this year, but it was played in our stadium to our rules so I reckon we ought to claim it as a victory for English football.
All I can say to that, is thank heavens they didn't have Russian linesmen otherwise nobody would have scored.
Heh. Wunderbar.All I can say to that, is thank heavens they didn't have Russian linesmen otherwise nobody would have scored.
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