November 4th, 2008
You are currently browsing the articles from TOP FootBall Player written on November 4th, 2008.
Not much to put in here today. As I stated before, we were all a little preoccupied by other things. I do have a nice picture of the foul on Steven Gerrard that Precious Roy worked up for us.
Arsenal to rotate the eight-year-olds into the squad tomorrow [Guardian]
Rafa fears that title race will be derailed by not resigning certain players. No mention of losing to last place teams [Guardian]
A takeover bid for Liverpool fell through [The Sun]
Which may be why Gillett is “embarrassed” by his club’s finances [SI]
And finally:
Cristiano Ronaldo is one sweaty dude [Sports Crackle Pop]
Written by Darkvader on November 4th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Backpasses and ü75.
New Zac Efron Pix
Seen on FmForums
Written by Darkvader on November 4th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Zac Efron.
It was said that the real reason both Aguero & Torres did not start
is because both sides were looking for the draw to qualify in Group
D together - RUBBISH - right?
ATLETICO DE MADRID has gone away from Anfield with a 1-1
draw after the referee called an non-existent penalty in the last
minutes of play in favour of LIVERPOOL FC. Thats Football, right?
Both teams played brilliantly, it was end to end stuff & the home
crowd of Liverpool was giving their side wings. But , Atletico were
pumped & better positioned with the reward coming in the 36th
min when MAXI RODRIGUEZ scored a great goal to put his team
ahead.
The rest was typical. Liverpool going after the draw & Atletico the
counter & to keep out Liverpool. It looked like that would happen &
give the Spanish side the dream win, when the unthinkable & the
non-existent happened. Like magic the referee call a penalty in favour
of Liverpool that did not occure. Both Pernia & Gerrard contested
the ball in the area without any foul, in fact the referee blew before
contact. Baffled!!!
STEVEN GERRARD scored the penalty in the 95th min to draw &
leave the Atletico crowd asking …”What happened”?
See a full summary & the highlights of the game in this video:
In the other game with Spanish representation, FC BARCELONA
drew 1-1 with BASILEA in Group C. Surprising result as everyone
expected a goal rush for Barça even though this win gave them
automatic qualification for the next stage.
Slow, inaccurate & sloppy play from Barça who scored in the 63rd min
thanks to MESSI. Then it happened, DERDYOK scored the equalizer in
the 83rd min. Even the Basilea Goalkeeper Franco Costanzo ( below)
celebrated the goal. SFS supposes it was a case of: got the job done!
The only bad news is the FC Barcelona will lose Iniesta to injury.
He will go medical examination to see the extent of the damage.
Written by STRIKER on November 4th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Atletico de Madrid and Champions League and FC Barcelona.
Where will Kun Aguero end up in January?
Election Day in the USA is more important, as u75 brought up. But it’s still my civic duty to provide a libel-free clearinghouse for CL-related observations!
On Tap Today:
GROUP A
–
CFR Cluj v Bordeaux
Roma v Chelsea
GROUP B
–
Anorthosis Famagusta v Inter Milan
Werder Bremen v Panathinaikos
GROUP C
–
Barcelona v Basle
Sporting v Shakhtar Donetsk
GROUP D
–
Liverpool v Atletico Madrid
Marseille v PSV Eindhoven
If LFC beat Atletico and PSV fail to beat Marseille, LFC secure passage into the next round.
For Chelsea, they’d need a lot to lock it up today. I’ll let Fletch from the BBC explain:“However - if they beat Roma and CFR Cluj draw with Bordeaux - the only way the London outfit could slip up would be if they lost both their remaining CL games and Bordeaux and Cluj won both their remaining games, with Bordeaux beating Chelsea by five clear goals (or 4-0, in which case it would come down to goals scored in the whole qualifying campaign).”
So there you have it.
LFC v. Atletico Madrid
Liverpool: Reina, Arbeloa, Carragher, Agger, Aurelio, Mascherano, Alonso, Kuyt, Gerrard, Riera, Keane.
Subs: Cavalieri, Dossena, Benayoun, Babel, Leiva Lucas, Ngog, Degen.
Atletico Madrid: Franco, Lopez, Perea, Heitinga, Pernia, Garcia, Paulo, Simao, Assuncao, Maniche, Maxi, Forlan.
Subs: Coupet, Luis Garcia, Aguero, Sinama Pongolle, Banega, Pablo, Camacho.
Roma v. Chelsea
Roma: Doni, Cicinho, Mexes, Juan, Panucci, Perrotta, De Rossi, Brighi, Pizarro, Totti, Vucinic.
Subs: Artur, Taddei, Loria, Riise, Julio Baptista, Tonetto, Menez.
Chelsea: Cech, Bosingwa, Terry, Alex, Bridge, Deco, Mikel, Lampard, Joe Cole, Anelka, Malouda.
Subs: Cudicini, Ivanovic, Di Santo, Drogba, Ferreira, Kalou, Belletti.
Written by Darkvader on November 4th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on CL Open Thread and Champions League and Lingering Bursitis.
Of course the solution then is to gouge out our own eyes, no?
So it’s a bit of a massive hyperbole—I mean the league has seven quality bids on the table for its next round of expansion—but MLS attendance numbers are in, and they are down from last year.
It’s okay, the sky is still up there. The drop was a modest 1.8% to an average of 16,459 a game. The league essentially tried to pin it on Kansas City playing in a 10,000 seat stadium—eating your own, bad strategy—but the Sports Business Journal article claims that even factoring out Kansas City for the past two years shows a drop in 2008.
The Galaxy led the league (duh) by averaging 26,000, which was up 7.2% from last year. Additionally they also drew well away from home as they broke their own road attendance record from last season. Basically, even though the team sucks, people still turn up to see David Beckham. Soccer in America, folks.
The biggest drag was FC Dallas. They had a drop of over 14.00%. Citing the article: “A spokesperson for FC Dallas said the team reduced the number of complimentary tickets offered this season and televised all home games for the first time, which affected attendance.” Also, while Pizza Hut Park is a nice facility, it is at least a 30 minute haul (and a few bucks in tolls) from downtown Dallas. When gas is $4 a gallon, that shit matters.
Then there’s this fun fact: The season ender between the Dynamo and Chivas USA, on Fox Soccer Channel, it got a Blutarsky. “The last game of the season on [FSC] between the Dynamo and Chivas USA delivered a 0.0 cable rating and 24,000 viewers.” Awesome.
We’re not bashing MLS. It might look like it, but we’re not. Look here’s a qualifier: That Dynamo v. Chivas game, it was totally meaningless in terms of regular season standings and playoffs, so of course it’s not going to draw a big number. Both the Dynamo and Chivas USA saw their season attendance numbers go up about 6.5% and 5.5% respectively (particularly amazing for the Dynamo because Robertson Stadium is a bit of a dump). So yippee!
We actually want MLS to succeed. And why not? The better the league is, the more goal keepers we can continue to send to the EPL (suck it, Barlcays). It’s just that, well, MLS attendance numbers are hardly the most reliable things to begin with. The San Diego Union Tribune covered this well a couple of years ago (see here and here). And when figures are possibly padded to begin with, what’s a 1.8% drop really mean?
Written by Darkvader on November 4th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Attendance and Lies and MLS.
I’m just going to say it. There are things I am much more interested in today than the beautiful game. Sure, Champions League matches will be a nice diversion (no Torres, ‘Pool fans), but that’s what they are today, a diversion.
If you are in America and eligible, I hope you have voted. I don’t care for whom (unless you voted for Cynthia McKinney. Woman’s a dingbat), just as long as you did so. If you have, feel free to take one of these stickers my home state prints out.
Join us later for some CL fun, and we will be back to full force tomorrow.
Written by Darkvader on November 4th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Electioneering and excuses and ü75.
I’m sure most of you would be interested in this. Behind the scenes of all those men in jerseys playing football are some amusing and even… puzzling stories of their lives and their behaviour. Some might not be all that surprising but here are some classics:
Jason McAteer:
He was locked out of his own porsche, Neil ‘Razor’ Ruddock asked him to get a coat hanger and try to smash the window. Jason came back with a wooden one.
According to former Blackburn team-mates, Jason’s greatest moment came on a squad night out to an Italian restaurant. Asked by the waitress whether he wanted his pizza cut up into eighths, McAteer is alleged to have replied, “Nah, I’m not that hungry - just cut it into four.”
In another possibly apocryphal (that means it might be made up, Jason) story, McAteer is reckoned to have asked a Liverpool team-mate what to put in the space marked ‘Position In Company’ on a credit card application form. According to legend, the source of McAteer’s confusion was that “I’m a central midfielder but the boss is playing me at right wing-back.
Jason calls his best friend “a deep thinker - he could easily be a
news reporter”. Jason’s best friend is Phil Babb
Bobby Robson:
Bobby Robson when at Newcastle, said to his board he wanted to sign ‘that black player from Wilmbledon’.
He meant Jason Euell, but he got Carl Cort
Bryan Robson come down for breakfast while with England, Bobby Robson says ‘Morning Bobby’
Bryan ‘ No boss, you’re Bobby, I’m Bryan
Reporter to Newcastle’s Shola Ameobi: ‘Do you have a nickname?’
Ameobi: ‘No, not really’
Reporter: ‘So what does Bobby Robson call you?’
Ameobi: ‘Carl Cort.’
Sir Bobby is signing copies of his autobigraphy in a bookstore in Newcastle. A kid patiently queues for ages to get his book signed. When he gets to the front of the queue Sir Bobby asks him his name and starts to sign his copy….
Kid: “So, have you signed a lot of books today Mr Robson.”
Sir Bobby: “Hundreds son, absolutely hundreds.”
Outside the shop the kid opens his copy of the book to read what the legend has written…………”To Jimmy, Best Wishes From Bobby Hundreds.”!!!!
Other Classics:
A french left back from Monaco going to meet Spurs for transfer talks, he finished the talks and Spurs are convinced they have got their man, they even pay for his taxi when he says he wants to go for a ride around town. Turns out he went down the road and had talks with Arsenal and ended up signing for them and playing in midfield, striking up a good partnership with Vieira. The player was Manu Petit.
In 1978, after Kieth Burkinshaw signed Ardilles and Villa, the story was that at training at Tottenham Burkinshaw would hold up the ball, motion kicking it and point to the goal whilst saying, “Ball, kick, kick ball, goal”. Eventually Ardilles and Villa become fed up with this so one of them says to Burkes, “It’s alright boss, we speak English” whereupon Burkinshaw replies, “I’m not talking to you two…”
The story about AC Milan scouts watching an exciting black young fella playing for Watford in the Eighties, the f**king clowns signed Luther Blisset for 1 million, while John Barnes went on to havea brilliant career at Liverpool.
Pre-season at Liverpool when Souness was in charge & all the players come in for weigh-in.
Souness looks at Jan Molby, and asks him how heavy he is. “fourteen stone, boss” replies Molby and walks across the room to be weighed. Steps up on the scales and the physio announces that he is in fact sixteen stone.
“F**k’s sake” shouts Souness, “you only walked the length of the room”.
David Beckham was being interviewd around the time of the 98 World Cup (possibly after his sending off) and was asked by the interviewer “Do you consider yourself to be a volatile player?” To which Beckham replied “Yes, cause I can play down the right or in the middle.
Few years back, Bolton’s new def midfielder Ivan Campo. Anyway he fills in his tax return for his first period and they write back to him saying we can’t process these without some form of photo id. Well, he’d scored the weekend before and was on the back page of the Bolton evening news heading home the winner……..he cut this out with an arrow pointing to his curly locks heading the ball home saying “this is me”
Hope you enjoyed it 
Written by DROGBALLS on November 4th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Anecdotes and Humour and Jason McAteer and Sir Bobby Robson and The Red Cauldron and football and funny.
If you head east on Academy Drive in Austin, Texas you pass what used to be the Austin Opera House. The only clue the place used to be a live music venue is the oversized parking lot. And looking at the nondescript office buildings, you’d never guess they occupy the same space where Stevie Ray Vaughan recorded parts of Live Alive, the world premier of the cult classic Ninja Bachelor Party took place, and Spamarama spent a couple of its formative and awkwardly less successful years.
Similarly, just a couple of blocks up the street sits a modern looking house that no passerby would think for a second holds one of the most peculiar soccer libraries on the planet. It’s the home of Dave Wasser, and inside is what has to be world’s most extensive collection of NASL game tapes.
The North American Soccer League is the “failed” American soccer past from which MLS are trying to avoid being doomed to repeat. Running from 1968 until it closed up shop in 1984, the league really did put soccer on the map in this country, if only for a couple of years when Pele arrived in New York to play for the Cosmos. But overexpansion, low attendance, etc… most every soccer fan in this country knows the story, if not, go check out this movie.
“I grew up in New York and used to love watching the Cosmos games when I was a kid,” says Wasser. “Then about 15 years ago, I thought, ‘You know, I’d love to get my hands on copies of those games, they have to be around some place.””
Place? No. Places? Yes. “Over the years I have contacted over a thousand people associated with the NASL—players, coaches, referees, team executives, even the announcers on the local NASL broadcasts. For every 10 or 15 people I contacted, one of them would have a stash of old tapes. That’s how I started collecting.”
When the league offices shut down in 1985, someone from the office called around to various players and coaches saying, “We’ve got these tapes of the games you were in, do you want them.” The problem was that they were on 3/4″ tape. Your standard home VCR is 1/2″ tape. People had footage of themselves they had literally never seen because they didn’t have the equipment. So, a decade later, as Wasser is following the league tracks, he’s telling people, “I can play those tapes, do you want me to copy them for you?”
In 1997 Wasser put up his website (www.davebrett.com). At the time he had about 50 NASL games on tape. Since then, the collection has grown to over 300 NASL matches, and the entire library is several hundred beyond that. There is a complete list on the site, but it is by no means exhaustive. Are there tapes anywhere of the San Antonio Thunder? What about the Miami Gatos?
“There are some classic games that I have never found. The 1978 Minnesota-New York playoff series is at the top of my ‘Want List,’” says Wasser, who is also the head of the NASL Alumni Association. Additionally, some known collections stay out of reach. Elliot Hoffman, the former owner as well as gatekeeper and keymaster of the Philadelphia Fury, hasn’t been willing to make copies of his tapes “for any reason” in Wasser’s experience.
Wasser also has the world’s most exhaustive archive of the US Men’s National Team—an additional 250 matches worth of shelf space. How complete is it? When people call US Soccer looking for tape, they tell them to call Wasser. In fact when US Soccer is looking for tape, they do the same.
He says: “A lot of people don’t realize that the first broadcast of a US National Team game in this country wasn’t until 1984—the last year of the NASL—and it was on NBC.” Wasser has a couple of games that pre-date that (foreign matches with the language call to boot). “I wish some games had been broadcast in the 1970s. I know many of the guys who played for the US National Team in the 1970s. They would love to see tapes of games they played in.”
As the work of just one guy with a strangely undying love for a league long since dead, the library is, in a word (okay, three), pretty fucking cool. All of the tapes are available for trade or for order. There is contact information for ordering on his homepage if you’ve nothing to trade but still have to have the ‘79 overtime thriller between Rochester Lancers and the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Written by Darkvader on November 4th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Dave Wasser and NASL and Strange Obsessions and USMNT.
« Older articles
No newer articles
Arsenal to rotate the eight-year-olds into the squad tomorrow [Guardian]
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
