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The Soccer Thread (V)

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Inky_Wretch, Jun 28, 2010.

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  1. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    What a season by Giggs!

    I loved the commentator's line when Giggs was walking over for a corner, "You can't hurry an old man."
     
  2. Webster

    Webster Well-Known Member

    I think that the addition of Valencia from injury has been huge. He's every bit the player that Nani is, without the drama.
     
  3. deskslave

    deskslave Active Member

    So Manchester City make a cup final for the first time in, what, 30 years, and now Man U have the chance to claim the PL title on the same day. I suspect Sir Alex will enjoy that.
     
  4. Shoeless Joe

    Shoeless Joe Active Member

    Let the celebrations begin!

    [​IMG]
     
  5. Interesting take on the away goal rules http://bit.ly/lBzegl I tend to agree that it's not the best way to break a tie in a European semifinal. Not sure what the alternative would be unless you play extra time til the players fall over? Which is fine with me.
     
  6. TrooperBari

    TrooperBari Well-Known Member

    Bit of laziness by the blogger, saying away goals need to be scrapped but telling other people to provide alternatives. That's on you, chief.

    I'm not too convinced by the argument, either. The away goals rule has nothing to do with what level of luxury teams experience when they travel. If there's one thing sports have proven over the years, it's that winning on the road is more difficult than at home. You're still traveling (which is tiring regardless of how well-conditioned you are), playing on the other team's field (where they control the conditions) and in front of the other team's fans (who can then intimidate the referee in favor of their team). If all the advantages that home teams possess are meaningless and playing on the road is no big deal nowadays, why do managers continue to alter their lineups and tactics when they play away from home? Why not just go for it?

    Let's look at home and road records of the teams who are in the Champions League places in Europe's top five leagues (England, Italy, Spain, France and Germany for purposes of simplicity):

    England
    http://soccernet.espn.go.com/tables?league=eng.1&cc=4716
    Manchester United — Home 17W 1D 0L, 45 GF 10 GA; Away 5W 9D 4L, 28 GF 24 GA
    Chelsea — 14W 2D 2L, 37 GF 11 GA; 7W 5D 6L, 30 GF 19 GA
    Arsenal — 11W 4D 3L, 32 GF 13 GA; 8W 6D 4L, 37 GF 26 GA
    Manchester City — 11W 4D 2L, 30 GF, 12 GA; 7W 4D 7L, 24 GF 21 GA

    Italy
    http://soccernet.espn.go.com/tables?league=ita.1&cc=4716
    AC Milan — 12W 4D 2L, 38 GF 11 GA; 11W 5D 2L, 23 GF 12 GA
    Inter — 14W 3D 1L, 45 GF, 19 GA; 8W 3D 7L, 20 GF 21 GA
    Napoli — 12W 3D 3L, 32 GF 14 GA; 9W 2D 7L, 24 GF 22 GA
    Udinese — 11W 3D 4L, 27 GF 16 GA; 8W 2D 8L, 36 GF 27 GA

    Spain
    http://soccernet.espn.go.com/tables?league=esp.1&cc=4716
    Barcelona — 16W 1D 1L, 46 GF 10 GA; 13W 3D 1L, 45 GF 9 GA
    Real Madrid — 14W 1D 2L, 49 GF 11 GA; 12W 4D 2L, 38 GF 20 GA
    Valencia — 10W 4D 4L, 34 GF 21 GA; 10W 2D 5L, 26 GF 21 GA
    Villarreal — 13W 3D 2L, 32 GF 11 GA; 5W 4D 8L, 21 GF 29 GA

    France
    http://soccernet.espn.go.com/tables?league=fra.1&cc=4716
    Lille — 11W 5D 1L, 36 GF 15 GA; 7W 7D 3L, 24 GF 16 GA
    Marseille — 9W 6D 2L, 29 GF 17 GA; 8W 5D 4L, 24 GF 16 GA
    Lyon — 11W 6D 1L, 35 GF 12 GA; 5W 5D 6L, 23 GF 23 GA
    Paris St.-Germain — 9W 6D 2L, 29 GF 16 GA; 6W 6D 5L, 22 GF 19 GA (added to keep similar sample size)

    Germany
    http://soccernet.espn.go.com/tables?league=ger.1&cc=4716
    Borussia Dortmund — 11W 4D 1L, 32 GF 7 GA; 11W 2D 4L, 32 GF 14 GA
    Bayer Leverkusen — 9W 5D 3L, 33 GF 24 GA; 10W 3D 3L, 30 GF 20 GA
    Bayern Munich — 12W 2D 2L, 46 GF 12 GA; 6W 6D 5L, 33 GF 27 GA
    Hannover — 11W 1D 4L, 29 GF 16 GA; 7W 2D 8L, 17 GF 28 GA (added to keep similar sample size)

    Playing away from home doesn't look so easy, does it? Those are just the best teams in their leagues — the road records below them are even worse. Using away goals as a tiebreaker isn't the most elegant solution, but it rewards teams for actually trying to play away from home, thus giving partisans and neutrals a better spectacle over two legs. Otherwise, you're guaranteed to have one side parking the bus in each leg.

    Play until the teams drop? That'd be an even bigger farce. You'd be forcing a manager to either risk the health of his best players (jeopardizing the rest of the season) or pull his best players and not only lower the quality of the match but make a continental competition look secondary to a domestic league. Penalty kicks? You're reducing the preceding 180 (or 210) minutes to a prelude to a crapshoot. How is that any more likely to determine a worthy winner? Given the packed schedules of top clubs, replays are definitely a thing of the past. Away goals aren't ideal, but they're the best of the options at our disposal.
     
  7. Mystery Meat II

    Mystery Meat II Well-Known Member

    Dumb question time: Is cumulative time with the lead feasable as a tiebreaker? Say Spurs (since this is the only way I can talk about them being in CL next season) lose to Borussia Dortmund 2-1 away but win 3-2 at home. Spurs led for 23:39 of the two games, Dortmund led for 30:09, thus Dortmund advances. It's no less arbitrary than away goals, but at least it gives a better sense of who the better team was.

    Of course it's not a perfect answer, because teams have and will win games in which they led most of the way thanks to an early screamer, but get outshot 18-1. But it gets closer than away goals, at least through my newbie eyes.
     
  8. Pastor

    Pastor Active Member

    Woohoo! Now I’ll have an EPL team to be rooting for! However, I have been partial to Birmingham (when one of their top player gets you drinks, it comes with the territory) and Blackpool (Charlie Adam!) and Liverpool (that’s a side story).
     
  9. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    Sixteen minutes gone and Liverpool is up 3-0 on Fulham. Well, maybe Dempsey will score a late, meaningless goal.
     
  10. Pastor

    Pastor Active Member

    Dempsey has already had a goal cleared off the line. It's a shame, really. Fulham just doesn't seem into this.
     
  11. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    I'm shocked - SHOCKED! - that the 2018 World Cup voting process was tainted by bribery.

    http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f652298c-7b0d-11e0-991a-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=rss#axzz1LyBDZH69
     
  12. NoOneLikesUs

    NoOneLikesUs Active Member

    Here's another link just in case you don't have access to Ft.com
    http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/05/10/sportsline/main20061481.shtml

    Also brides were present in 2022 bid process as well.

    Is there any way that international law kicks in and some of these assholes go to jail somewhere?
     
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