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World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

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Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

MountieBoyOz said:
Gers have a tough draw with United and Valencia. Ouch.
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I'm not sure what to expect from Valencia this year; I think Emery knows what he's doing, but without Villa and Silva they might find it tough to repeat the success they had last year.
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

Something old school and silly.

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Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

Fulham signed Carlos Salcido. Bleh, another team I like signing a guy from El Tri. Plus it probably means Paul Konchesky is off to Liverpool, because apparently it's OK for them to go back on their agreement not to sign players from Fulham, but it's not OK for the Fat Spanish Waiter to try to sign players from Liverpool for Inter.
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

Europa Cup full draw:

GROUP A
Juventus
Manchester City
Salzburg
Lech Posnan

GROUP B
Atletico Madrid
Bayer Leverkusen
Rosenborg
Thessaloniki

GROUP C
Sporting
Lille
Levski Sofia
Gent

GROUP D
Villarreal
Club Brugge
Dinamo Zagreb
PAOK

GROUP E
AZ Alkmaar
Dynamo Kiev
BATE Borisov
FC Sheriff

GROUP F
CSKA Moscow
Palermo
Sparta Prague
Lausanne-Sport

GROUP G
Zenit St Peterburg
Anderlecht
AEK Athens
Hadjuk Split

GROUP H
VfB Stuttgart
Getafe
Odense BK
Young Boys

GROUP I
PSV Eindhoven
Sampdoria
FC Metalist Kharkiv
Debreceni

GROUP J
Sevilla
Paris St Germain
Borussia Dortmund
Karpaty Lviv

GROUP K
Liverpool
Steaua Bucharest
Napoli
FC Utretcht

GROUP L
FC Porto
Besiktas
CSKA Sofia
Rapid Vienna
Click to expand...
 
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Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

Your Europa League groups (with country), my picks to advance in bold:

A:
Juventus (Ita)
Manchester City (Eng)
Red Bull Salzburg (Aus)
Lech Poznari (Pol)

B:
Atletic Madrid (Spa)
Bayer Leverkusen (Ger)
Rosenborg (Nor)
Aris (Gre)

C:
Sporting CP (Por)
Lille (Fra)
Levski Sofia (Bul)
Gent (Beg)

D:
Villareal (Spa)
Club Brugge (Bel)
Dinamo Zagreb (Cro)
PAOK (Gre)

E:
AZ (Ned)
Dynamo Kyiv (Ukr)
BATE (Blr)
Sheriff Tiraspol (Mol)

F:
CSKA Moscow (Rus)
Palermo (Ita)
Sparta Praha (Cze)
Lausanne-Sport (Sui)

G:
Zenit St. Petersburg (Rus)
Anderlecht (Bel)
AEK Athens (Gre)
Hajduk Split (Cro)

H:
Stuttgart (Ger)
Getafe (Spa)
Odense (Den)
Young Boys (Sui)

I:
PSV Eindhoven (Ned)
Sampdoria (Ita)
Metalist Kharkiv (Ukr)
Debrecen (Hun)

J:
Sevilla (Esp)
PSG (Fra)
Borussia Dortmund (Ger)
Karpaty Lviv (Ukr)

K:
Liverpool (Eng)
Steaua Bucuresti (Rom)
Napoli (Ita)
Utrecht (Ned)

L:
Porto (Por)
Besiktas (Tur)
CSKA Sofia (Bul)
Rapid Wien (Aus)
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

3W said:
Bob Bradley, come on down!

Villa concede in the 77th and 80th minutes and barring a miracle are going to crash out of the Europe League at the same hurdle (final qualifying round) to the same club (Rapid Vienna).
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a real financial problem, they budgeted beyond that round...I mean who would think they could choke two years in a row???
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

Blackburn Rovers have completed the signing of former Manchester City striker Benjani on a one-year deal.

Could play vs Arsenal.
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

Blackburn 0 - Arsenal 1
Walcott 20'.

Also, Spurs have drawn Arsenal in the third round of the Carling Cup, at White Hart Lane. Other games of interest to those here:

Stoke - Fulham
Chelsea - Newcastle
Villa - Blackburn
Liverpool - Northampton Town
Sc*nthorpe - Man U
WBA - Man City
 
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Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

Blackburn 1 - Arsenal 1
(M.B. Diouf 27'; Walcott 20')

Debutante goal from Mame Diouf, assisted by El-Hadji Diouf.
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

Blackburn 1 - Arsenal 2

Arshavin 51'.

Assist to Walcott's rear end.
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

How did Alcaraz miss that chance earlier? More importantly, how did Kaboul miss his chance late on?
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

Sounds like Sunil Gulati is courting Klinsmann:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/soccerinsider/2010/08/ussf_looking_to_klinsmann_agai.html

Which brings us to Klinsmann. The USSF's pursuit of the legendary striker four years ago made so much sense: With passion and a progressive approach, he had guided a young Germany squad to third place in the world. Well before then, he had settled with his family in Southern California, driving distance to the U.S. base at Home Depot Center, and had become acutely familiar with the American system, MLS's quirks and the expanding player pool. He was a hot commodity.

Four years later, Klinsmann is just another well-known former coach, having lasted a mere one season at Bayern Munich (25-9-9 in all competitions) in 2008-09. German clubs don't exactly have him on speed dial these days. And the attractive play and superior tactics exhibited by Germany at this year's World Cup, despite the absence of several injured players, demonstrated Joachim Loew's managerial brilliance. Until their semifinal defeat to eventual champion Spain, the Germans were the best performers in the tournament. Loew was Klinsmann's top lieutenant in 2006, earning wide praise for his work.

Tactical and personnel decisions aside, Klinsmann would certainly bring emotion and personality to the U.S. program. For all their fine traits, Arena and Bradley were largely subdued figures who rarely expressed themselves on the sideline and, for the most part, were reluctant to embrace public relations and media endeavors. That would not be an issue for the personable Klinsmann.
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Klinsmann might not be a tactical genius, but more of a CEO type. And he can hire a tactical guy as an assistant (as he did with Loew). Klinsmann and Loew also helped revamp Germany's youth systems, and he apparently has an eye on similar improvements for the US - and given his residency in the US, he's familiar with the quirks of the US youth and professional development systems.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20...nigstein/07/01/germany.reinvention/index.html

The disappointing quarterfinal exit against Croatia at the 1998 World Cup then made it plain to see: not enough talent was coming through. In the Bundesliga, the percentage of foreigners had risen again, to 50 percent by the time the season kicked off in 2000.

The German FA realized that something had to be done. It looked at the French system and decided that something similar was needed. In May 1999, FA vice president Beckenbauer, first-team manager Ribbeck, Bayer Leverkusen general manager Reiner Calmund and FA Director of Youth Development Dietrich Weise presented a new concept for producing young German footballers. All across the country, 121 national talent centers would be built to help 10- to 17-year-olds with technical practice. Each center would employ two full-time coaches at a cost of $15.6 million over five years. The second key point was a new requirement for all 36 professional clubs in Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 to build youth academies.

...

After a disappointing Euro 2004, where Germany was knocked out in the group stage for the second time in a row, manager Rudi Völler resigned. Jürgen Klinsmann took over with the specific directive "to take the whole shop apart." He introduced a new, highly individualized fitness regime devised by American specialists, replaced old FA apparatchiks with trusted lieutenants and embarked on a radical repositioning of the tactical identity of the national team. Under Ribbeck and Völler, a lack of creative players had made the side progressively more negative, as well as overly reliant on individual heroics from midfielder Michael Ballack and keeper Oliver Kahn.

Klinsmann, the former Spurs and Bayern forward, had other ideas. He wanted Germany to play an (idealized) version of Premier League soccer; a 4-4-2 system with attacking wide players, overlapping fullbacks and only one holding midfielder behind box-to-box tyro Ballack. Opponents would be pressed and overwhelmed high up the pitch by players hunting in packs. It was a style that caught the imagination of the public but needed some modification to bring results: Ballack unselfishly persuaded Klinsmann to play him deeper alongside Torsten Frings in a more defensive role before the tournament started.

Klinsmann assistant Joachim "Jogi" Löw continued on this path after succeeding his boss but had to rethink his formation when Croatia beat Germany 2-1 at the 2008 Euros. His 4-4-2 was ill-equipped to deal with sides that had deep-lying shadow strikers or playmakers "between the lines" and also suffered from predictability. Doubling up on Germany's wide players would disrupt the supply to the forwards and reduce them to shots from distance.

Löw adopted a more fluid 4-2-3-1 system with Ballack behind sole striker Miroslav Klose to get to the final, but it was the emergence of Mesut Özil (Werder Bremen) that enabled this system to really blossom one year later.

...

"We have undoubtedly more talent than 10 years ago," said Albeck, who has a budget of about $5 million at his disposal every year. Last season alone, the 36 Bundesliga clubs spent a combined $100 million on youth development, a higher proportion of income than any other major league. Germany's footballing philosophy has also changed. Whereas youth coaches would traditionally stress stamina and physical endurance, the new crop of highly qualified coaches is more interested in developing technical ability.
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MLS teams have all established academies, and those are starting to bear fruit. I can easily see the parallels in development tracks, too.

I suspect the final decision is all about money. I don't think it's about Klinsmann's salary, however - but rather giving him the freedom and autonomy to spend a lot of USSF's money on development and youth systems.

I think, in general, that's the right approach - but I have no idea if Klinsmann specifically is the guy to get us there, or if there's someone else who can do a better job - who's still a realistic hire for the USSF.
 
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