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World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

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Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

Looking at the Europa League draw, I may have found the only time I'll root for Al-Citeh. I hope they go to Turin and kick the hell out of Juventus and their racist fans. Sure, you can make fun of Ballotelli, but be more creative. All clubs have a segment of nutters, but it seems like Juve and the Italian teams have a ton of racist fans. That's why when we were naming clubs we liked, I didn't choose ANY Italian teams.
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

Villa with the early lead in the battle between Friedel and TIMMAY! on a Luke Young goal against the run of play.
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

Friedel bails out the Villa, which apparently is ready to welcome Bradley, because it basically bunkered up for the last 20 minutes. Young's goal against the run of play holds up and the final is 1-0.
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

3W said:
...which apparently is ready to welcome Bradley, because it basically bunkered up for the last 20 minutes.
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The saddest thing about Bradley's time with the U.S. is the gross mischaracterization of how his teams played.


(Apologies in advance if I misunderstood how you meant that sentence.)
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

Villa released a statement today talking about how critical previous Premier League experience will be in their search for a new manager.


Sorry Bob.
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

As I've observed elsewhere, the only guys on the market for whom that applies that should be in the frame for Villa are Sven and maybe Curbishley.

The rest were mediocrities at their previous stops and should prove a higher ceiling before Villa looks at them.
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

I think the last line of the Telegraph live blog summed today's match up nicely.

"Villa have held on for the points! But how? No, I mean, seriously. How?"

Craig, it should also be noted that Curbishley had a brief playing spell for the Villa in 1983-84.
 
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Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

AMC said:
Jesus Spurs, wake up!

****ing christ 1-0 Wigan
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"Champions League, you're havin' a laugh."

Probably a rare type of result, but boy that doesn't bode well for a team that is in a very competitive group. Another day+ to get a striker; once again, LOTS of gossip about who Spurs are after. We'll see if they can work some magic before the window closes.
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

Craig P. said:
CONCACAF might be breaking out the footgun here:

http://www.concacaf.com/page/ConfederationDetail/0,,12813~2046674,00.html

If the new format is the rumored one, they're about to have a go at wrecking the second-best qualifying format in the world (after CONMEBOL's double-round-robin which is impractical for any other confederation to implement).
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Hmmm.

CONCACAF will propose a change in its qualifying format for the 2014 World Cup, starting with a preliminary knockout stage followed by three group phases, the confederation Executive Committee decided Friday.
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How would that work?
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

blockski said:
Hmmm.



How would that work?
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my guess is that we'd see something like a 2x4 closing round... so, that's what 6 match days.

Maybe something like 8x4 to 4x4 to 2x4... top two qualify... next 2 play for the last spot and half spot.

Its just a thought... adds more clubs to the round robin phases... keeps it quick... etc.
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

Huh, that's interesting. I had heard a rumor along these lines around 6 months ago, but they were speculating that it would be more like a CONMEBOL style type of qualifying.


What is it now? 2 two-legged knockout rounds, then 3 groups of 4, then one group of 6? So I'd assume a change would just shift one of those knockout rounds into another group stage. Probably would result in each team playing two more qualifiers.
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

WeWantMore said:
Huh, that's interesting. I had heard a rumor along these lines around 6 months ago, but they were speculating that it would be more like a CONMEBOL style type of qualifying.


What is it now? 2 two-legged knockout rounds, then 3 groups of 4, then one group of 6? So I'd assume a change would just shift one of those knockout rounds into another group stage. Probably would result in each team playing two more qualifiers.
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I agree, I doubt that they'll change much about the way qualifying ends, and I'd be shocked if they got rid of the hexagonal final round.

Whatever changes they make will probably be of greater impact to the Arubas, Cayman Islands and Grenadas of the confederation, as opposed to having any real impact on the US, Mexico, Costa Rica, etc.
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

ExileOnDaytonStreet said:
Whatever changes they make will probably be of greater impact to the Arubas, Cayman Islands and Grenadas of the confederation, as opposed to having any real impact on the US, Mexico, Costa Rica, etc.
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Beyond having to play more games against crappy teams like Aruba, Grenada, and St. Kitts and Nevis. When they changed the format for the 2006 World Cup by making the top 3 teams play in knockout games against crappy teams instead of a free pass to the first group stage, it was seen as an unnecessary tip to Caribbean teams by CONCACAF to give them more money. And that's what this plan is, a tip to Caribbean teams to give them more money.
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

ExileOnDaytonStreet said:
Whatever changes they make will probably be of greater impact to the Arubas, Cayman Islands and Grenadas of the confederation, as opposed to having any real impact on the US, Mexico, Costa Rica, etc.
Click to expand...

True. It probably will hurt Mexico a tiny bit, if it means two more qualifiers which have to be played at the Azteca. Making them play games in Mexico means they can't be here in the US making money.
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

There's a rumor that Newcastle are trying to sign Dutch forward Ricky van Wolfswinkel. I mention this only because it bears pointing out that "Ricky van Wolfswinkel" is an awesome name.
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

jmh said:
There's a rumor that Newcastle are trying to sign Dutch forward Ricky van Wolfswinkel. I mention this only because it bears pointing out that "Ricky van Wolfswinkel" is an awesome name.
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Dutch names in general are pretty sweet. I'm a big fan of Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink.
 
Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

Harry Redknapp ain't no wheeler-dealer. (A few naughty words in there).


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Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

3W said:
I think the last line of the Telegraph live blog summed today's match up nicely.

"Villa have held on for the points! But how? No, I mean, seriously. How?"

Craig, it should also be noted that Curbishley had a brief playing spell for the Villa in 1983-84.
Click to expand...

When they said 5 minutes of stoppage (why?) I thought for sure they were going to give one up. 17 corners gives an idea of how much Everton were dominating play. It was like watching a boxing match where your guy is up on points and trying to hang on for the final bell, time was moving slowly.

My thought on manager is that if they don't have somebody worthy (and affordable) and just lost the Europa revenue, then bolster MacDonald with some additional staff and leave him on until somebody of note becomes available. I'd not like to see them bring in somebody just for the sake of bringing them in...I'd leave the interim tag on there and hope to stay competitive. six points in 3 games ...could be worse.


edit: spoke with a friend who is a little closer to it...says they wll bring somebody in...sounded like sooner than later
 
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Re: World Soccer XVIII: A New Season

As far as CONCACAF goes, there's a persistent rumor that they plan to go with a shorter and split final group stage. If they keep the hex (or expand to an oct), I'm fine with that. The earlier group stage will just be a chance to increase the number of Caribbean minnows (aka Jack Warner's lackeys) who get a USA or Mexico payday.

Red Cloud said:
Dutch names in general are pretty sweet. I'm a big fan of Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink.
Click to expand...

The story behind his name's pretty cool too.

(Strictly speaking, his name could equally be Jan Hesselink of Vennegoor...)
 
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