Champions League Draw

[DarthGrumpy]

That was by far the worst I have seen from Liverpool so far this year. They are in real danger of not getting through now.

Hey, but my Club Brugge team won their first Champions match 4-0 over Monaco. Brugge scored 3 goals in 12 minutes early in the fiurst half. Ouch.

Looks like Monaco is paying the price for selling all of their top talent for money over the last 3 or so seasons. They are also at the bottom of Ligue 1 right now with just 7 points and will likely be battling regulation for the rest of the season.

 

[LIuconn]

Spurs are the most unlucky team on the planet. And I've done a 180 on Nash. He's the best analyst in the building

 

[Waquoit]

That was by far the worst I have seen from Liverpool so far this year. They are in real danger of not getting through now.

They lead the group and control their own destiny, at least.

 

[Waquoit]

Just in case anyone hasn't seen it, this website shows you where ALL the TV games are.

I bring it up now because I see on Wednesday Liverpool will be on Univision while Spurs will be on Galavision (and TNT) while Barca is on UniMas. These are Spanish channels I didn't know I had before CL season. So we have 3 games in that time slot on cable. That's not bad. And Spanish commentary is still better than Alexi Lalas.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Nor quite Champions League; but, the attepmt to have the Copa Libertadores last weekend between Boca Juniors and River Plate in Buenos Aires has turned into a disaster.

The Argentina government is taking heat for the limited security provide for the game, which everyone know was going to be a tense affair.

Both teams are pointing fingers at the other team's fans, though neither is arguing against the match being postponed. It looks like Boca's threat by managers and players not to enter the pitch is what caused the match to be finally postponed after two initial delays of an hour each.

Thus, CONMEBOL is under the most fire. Their own medical staff declared that there was 'no medical reason' to delay the match, though the report itself notes significant injuries to 3 Boca Players and excessive exposure to tear gas by most of the Boca team. Boca has said CONMEBOL applied heavy pressure for them to play. In turn, CONMEBOL is now saying that FIFA President Gianni Infantino is the one who demanded that the game be played. USMNT players can attest to the challenges of playing games in Latin America; but, this looks to be beyond acceptable. It would be logical for the match to be played at a neutral, closed venue; but, there are big egos and big money involved here.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/spor...pa-libertadores-final/?utm_term=.af5d10259628

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Nor quite Champions League; but, the attempt to have the Copa Libertadores last weekend between Boca Juniors and River Plate in Buenos Aires has turned into a disaster.

The second leg of Copa Libertadores will be played on December 9th at Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid. Ouch. CONMEBOL decided not to award Boca the title outright (like they did for River Plate years back when something similar happened); but, this is a stiff punishment for River when the $400K is added along with being forced to play their next two home matches behind closed doors. Plus, Real gets a leg-up on recruiting yet more players from Argentina.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Another week of Champions Play. Some good games, including 2 USMNT players in the pitch at the same time (Dortmund v Brugge); but, it seems to have been all overwhelmed by Liverpool coming out flat against PSG and Neymar showing-off why he may get the FIFA Ballon d'Or (Best Male Player) and a Hollywood Emmy for the best acting award in a comedy in the same year.

Group Winners: Barcelona, FC Porto, Real Madrid
Group Runner-up: AS Roma, Schalke
Qualified (position TBD): Ajax, Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Juventus, Manchester City, Manchester United
Eliminated Europa: Benfica, Club Brugge, Valencia
Eliminated (TBD): Galatasaray, Hoffenheim, Lokomotiv Moscow, Red Star Belgrade, Viktoria Plzen
Eliminated: AEK Athens, Monaco, PSV Eindhoven, Young Boys

My Brugge team, after drawing 0-0 with Dortmund, is off to Europa. Olympique Lyon needs a point at Shakhtar Donetsk to advance; but, could still win Group F if they they get 3 and Manchester City loses at home to Hoffenheim. Tottenham will be playing a math game with Inter Milan in order to advance from Group B. Liverpool needs to beat Napoli and then with the math game with Napoli and PSG to advance from Group C. Man City is somehow through and could still win Group H.

Back in Europa, Arsenal will advance and could win the group after they sent mostly a AAA team to Kiev, which is under marshall law, to overwhelm beat Vorskla 3-0.

 

[Waquoit]

Liverpool has to win 1-0 or by multiple goals to go through.

 

[Waquoit]

Liverpool!

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Tottenham, Liverpool, and Dortmund are through. Brugge came in 3rd and is off to Europa while Horvath has posted clean sheets in their final two Champions League matches.

 

[Waquoit]

All 4 EPL teams go through. Looks like I have a whine for tomorrow. Eight games to be played, 5 games on cable TV. But the one game of real importance, Lyon-Shakhtar, isn't available.

 

[UConnTrumbull]

But the one game of real importance, Lyon-Shakhtar, isn't available.

Reddit stream

 

[Waquoit]

The round of 16 looks pretty promising. All the best teams went through. As a Liverpool fan I have no problems with the fact that we can't play Man City or PSG.

 

[meyers7]

Drawings done for Knock Out Phase

Shalke 04 - Manchester City
Atletico Madrid - Juventus
Manchester United - PSG
Tottenham - Borussia Dortmund
Lyon - Barcelona
Roma - Porto
Ajax - Real Madrid
Liverpool - Bayern Munich

EPL with some tough draws (except City)

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Drawings done for Knock Out Phase

Shalke 04 - Manchester City
Atletico Madrid - Juventus
Manchester United - PSG
Tottenham - Borussia Dortmund
Lyon - Barcelona
Roma - Porto
Ajax - Real Madrid
Liverpool - Bayern Munich

EPL with some tough draws (except City)

Man City obviously did well with the draw, Man U and my Lyon team, not so lucky. I think Tottenham is in trouble, too, as Dortmund is playing very well right now. Liverpool versus Bayern Munich should be a classic along with Altetico should also be a great match-up.

In Europe, the round of 32 has also been drawn.

1) Viktoria Plzen vs. Dinamo Zagreb
2) Club Brugge vs. FC Salzburg
3) Rapid Vienna vs. Inter Milan
4) Slavia Prague vs. Genk
5) Krasnodar vs. Bayer Leverkusen
6) Zurich vs. Napoli
7) Malmo vs. Chelsea
8) Shakhtar Donetsk vs. Frankfurt
9) Celtic vs. Valencia
10) Rennes vs. Real Betis
11) Celtic vs. Valencia
12) Lazio vs. Sevilla
13) Fenerbache vs. Zenit
14) Sporting CP vs. Villarreal
15) BATE Borisov vs. Arsenal
16) Galatasaray vs. Benfica

Arsenal got a favorable draw, except for having to travel all the way to Belarus ditto for Chelsea, thoug teh travel to Sweden is just as long, its better than Belarus. My Brugge team drew Salzburg, which is not going to be easy. There are some other really interesting match-ups with Celtic v Valencia, Celtic v Valencia, Lazio vs. Sevilla, and Galatasaray vs. Benfica.

 

[LIuconn]

Ajax looked smooooooth dismantling Real. And the announcer didn't want to give them much credit, and he absolutely annihilated Bale during the 2nd half. Kinda strange.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Ajax looked smooooooth dismantling Real. And the announcer didn't want to give them much credit, and he absolutely annihilated Bale during the 2nd half. Kinda strange.

Glad to see a team from outside of England, Spain, Italy, and Germany advance. Ajax does a heck of a job developing players. Real needs to undertake a full re-build, so wonder Zidane left. Of course, as I can't stand that team, they are free to completely ignore my observation.

The Spurs also sent Dortmund home, Pulisic did not start and came on in the 62nd.

 

[LIuconn]

Spurs took care of business. CL is wide open this year, and with EPL not protecting its teams by giving favorable schedule dates, 6 teams can win it all in my estimation

 

[ZooCougar]

Ajax has a budget of $28M for their 1st, 2nd and 3rd Teams.

The combined expenditure of development in MLS is just north of $28M.

Please tell me how US Soccer is doing just fine.

This is why anyone who supports Cordeiro, Arena, Garber etc. should be punched in the throat and tossed overboard.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Ajax has a budget of $28M for their 1st, 2nd and 3rd Teams.

The combined expenditure of development in MLS is just north of $28M.

Please tell me how US Soccer is doing just fine.

This is why anyone who supports Cordeiro, Arena, Garber etc. should be punched in the throat and tossed overboard.

First, check the budget for Barcelona, Man City, Juventus, etc. It bet its at least 4x what Ajax spends; but, Ajax does well with their program. Second, the owners's pocketbooks are doing just fine with MLS and US Soccer, which is the primary concern for the powers that be.

 

[outlaw]

This is why anyone who supports Cordeiro, Arena, Garber etc. should be punched in the throat and tossed overboard.

these people exist?

 

[ZooCougar]

these people exist?

Oh yeah. See Dan Loney and company on twitter.

 

[UConnTrumbull]

Ajax produces good talent but they’re not “poor”...Tadic and Ziyech both bought for over 10 million euros. Now in comparison to Man City and PSG, it is a different ball game.

Speaking of PSG...May yet bottle it against United. Lukaku with two gifts of goals!

 

[LIuconn]

2 teams easy to dislike. PSG and ManU

 

[Chuck]

I think my 12 year old Manu U fan son just cried. He called me to watch the PK together. They got dominated, but it doesn't matter.

VAR is weird. I guess they get the calls right, but I hate when they let the clear offsides play through. If it's close, okay, but just make the call if a guy is a full body length off.