OT: soccer thread

[fatlever]

yeah, what happened to you guys this year doc? lots of strange happenings in uefa qualifying this year.

[doc.end]

Whole czech soccer is undergoing a bad period - the crisis was only postponed by that succesful generation (Čech, Rosický, Nedvěd, Koller, Poborský, Baroš,...). There were pretty much everything including corruption scandals in top league few years ago, not competent people at top positistions of czech soccer organisation - or with side motives encourages by money we got from succes on field, tunneled clubs, bankruptcy of one traditional club* which was revived by its fans however another club tried to got the famous name and now there evn three clubs with the same nickname until civil courts will decide this (won't be soon),... you got the picture.

The somewhat golden genration aged, some retired, others became to sure about their position in national team that they got worse, there were some scandals about alleged hookers in some players hotel room during national team camps etc. Coach Brückner probably passed hi peak and had started declining, after Euro he resigned and in very questionable election the organisation chose a weak new coach (former Brückner assistent) with lack of authority. We basically played the same tactic with Koller as the target man despite we played without him. Nedvěd retired and Rosický pretty much injured all the time didn't help too, we have very unconsistent midfiled and central defnse declined too.

In June new chief of czech soccer was elected (he was hyped as the only one who can change things etc. somewhat like Obama:) ) and became even a national team coach as nobody was willing to step up and take a risky mission to save us in qualification. We finished somewhat strong but Slovenia did well too so now our only chance is that San Marino won't loose against Slovenia at home, which as you know is very unprobable.

I guess we will have to undergo a generation change which already began but with some rotten apples in the mix. At least we have some young talent and allegedly strong crop of 89' or so. Overall we fell into an average euro team category.

(it is pointless to tell you, Chelsea fan, that Petr Čech is not as confident as he used to be, I don't blame him, but many czech fans do)

*that tradional club (Bohemians, now the pure ones are Bohemians 1905) could actually be very liked here as this board has several Aussies and the identity of "Kangaroos" is connected to Australia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemians_1905 Small, family club, underdogs with Panenka as chairman. Now back in the top division. I'm a laid back fan of them too.

[doc.end]

BTW go to the FIFA site and read analysis of the thirs euro qulification group in hind sight it is very funny how things went http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminar ... lysis.html including "always awkard Slovakia" now sitting at the first place.) Yeah, they queitly got much better.

[fatlever]

thanks for the info doc. i admit, i dont know much about the czech team outside of cech and koller. how old is koller? he's been around forever.

you're right about cech. he has not been the same player the last few years. sure, he's still probably top 10 keeper but he's no longer in the conversation for best in the world.

i wonder if there is any hangover for the czech team after that meltdown in the euro cup in 2008. im sure that most have rattled some confidence.

here's hoping cech regains his form going into the next cycle for you guys.

[doc.end]

Koller is 36. He retired from national after last Euro and then returned for the new coach (the chairman) for the game in Slovakia. We played with one striker in the front, him, and they managed to cover him quite well. He was subbed for the second half, we had more strikers there then and offense improved a bit naturally. It was a draw. Immideately after the game, Koller, not satisfied with his play, announced retirement for good, saying he is not good enough anymore and younger players should get a chance. He was always humble, great no spot light character. He was honour on last Saturday before the game against Poland. He currently plays for Samara (Russia) but his contract ends in winter and he wants to play in France where his wife and childre live (since he played for Monaco before), Nice and Caen were mentioned as possible destinations.

He was actually a bit of a late bloomer (and started as a goalkeeper due to his height for regional clubs). He was allegedly discovered by soccer related walk byer while playing for fun with his friends near one czech major club facility. He was 20 or 21 at that time I think. And he really broke through several years later in Belgium till then was a sleeper.

[e4Nf6]

Soccer Talk!!

I really hope somebody puts up a torrent for the US-Hondruras game as I would love to watch it on something other than a 2 inch by 2 inch screen. I hope we play our starters vs. Costa Rica as Honduras deserves a fair shot to qualify and I´d like to finish ahead of Mexico in WCQ.

That Czech team that beat us in 2006 looked great, I thought they had a chance to make a run, but then they fell apart completely....The Czech U-20 team looked decent, so maybe the future is bright.

Damn Fats....You watch A LOT of tv, that´s 20-25 hrs a week right there.....I was going to make my list but it´s only 3-4 shows, its embarrasing.....

[fatlever]

thanks for the info doc. koller sounds like a class act. i knew there was good reason i liked him. he's what peter crouch wishes he could be. good luck next cycle.

my stream from the honduras game was crap, but happy i found one.

i am also rooting for honduras. i thought they were class. thats a good team. and apparently their fans were also class, unlike some other countries ***cough*** mexico ***cough*** i am hoping we play most of the starters. lets face it, most of them need the minutes, although i would like to see torres get some time. he deserves some minutes. is it wrong that i prefer holden at right mid to dempsey? dempsey sucks out wide. he needs to be up top behind one of the strikers or playing at a 10 role. i just dont like him on the right. i was watching fox fone in last night and wynalda was talking about how the US should try a 3-5-2 to get our best players on the field. that would be insteresting. maybe something like....

-----------------------howard--------------------
------spector------gooch----------boca-----
--------------clark---------bradley-------------
holden-----------dempsey----------donovan
-------------davies----------jozy----------------

yeah, i know... i do watch a lot of tv. and that list doesnt even included the hours of sports i watch following bobcats, chelseas, mens usa soccer, panthers and fantasy football teams. good thing about dvr, you can run thru shows pretty fast.

[doc.end]

The peak of that Czech team was probably Euro 04, in 2006 World Cup we didn't have healthy Koller and Baroš (starting strikers) both healthy at one time, that hurt our chances and that upset against Ghana was a turning point since then everything went downfall. We barely qualified for Euro 08 and there we were really bad and probably didn't deserved to advance from the group.

U-20 played without two good strikers, one, Necid, is already playing for the senior team and the other one is 17, already at least as good as those who played. We are lacking creative midfileders, the U20 one is just warming bench at Schalke they want him to re-buld into right defender there:(

Good ol' times http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uM6ounMr ... re=related
and (at 2:54) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBLPFwDtcFY that's why Poborský on right wing was a key

Hey, what about OT soccer thread, fat?.)

[fatlever]

i would love an OT soccer thead, but, would anyone post in an OT soccer thread besides doc e4 waydown and myself?

[doc.end]

Call it football and we would have enough posters:))

I actually know very little to nothing about non-european football, so it could be fun to discover new faces.

[doc.end]

And to encourage that I'm bringing one very funny video from top czech soccer league (wait till the end) http://tvbolka.cz/index.php?ch=1&id=694 ... &activeDop

[SWedd523]

fats, I don't understand why they keep putting Dempsey out wide. He has shown, especially in the Confederations Cup, that he performs best when he's either a striker or an attacking mid. I also think Francisco Torres deserves to start--probably at the expense of Ricardo (in your lineup).


For the record, I think a 3-5-2 would be fantastic as our strength is obviously in our back line and midfielders.

[fatlever]

for the few soccer fanatics on the board.

[fatlever]

fats, I don't understand why they keep putting Dempsey out wide. He has shown, especially in the Confederations Cup, that he performs best when he's either a striker or an attacking mid. I also think Francisco Torres deserves to start--probably at the expense of Ricardo (in your lineup).


For the record, I think a 3-5-2 would be fantastic as our strength is obviously in our back line and midfielders.

pretty much every games clint has played for US starting in June he has looked like crap out wide. and in almost every game he gets moved up top around the 70th minute and then he starts to play better. he is best in the middle of the field and around the basket. he's a great garbage man around the goal. clint doesnt attack wide, doesnt cross the ball well and doesnt seem to link up with the right backs much. he's hit or miss in terms of tracking back to help defensively.

[fatlever]

just saw a headline that charlie davies was in a serious car accident where another person was killed. wow. i hope is he ok.
http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_i ... in-dc.html

[BigSlam]

I'm starting an OT: Aussie Rules Football Thread............

[fatlever]

this is not looking good for davies. it was a one car accident. driver was a girl who was killed. davies was passenger. the suv was torn in half. davies could have career threatening injuires. what a sad sad sad day for US soccer.

[fatlever]

I'm starting an OT: Aussie Rules Football Thread............

i should have known a soccer thread would bring you out of the shadows.

would love an aussies rules thread. i'm interesting in learning more. plus we have to have more aussies on this board than any other forum. keep the fan base happy.

[WaydownSouth]

Cool........ now I have somewhere to spread the Liverpool love.............


I wish this was still true.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeJn8twZ08c

I think Rafael is on the way out. We never should of got rid of Xavi and Peter Crouch.... I wish he had also kept Momo Sissoko. The defense has been very average this year.

There is talk that Heskey maybe returning, but I hope not. We don't need another striker that can't score.

6 points off top spot, but it's a long season. It's nice seeing some other teams in the top 6 for a change. Tottenham spent very very well, and Man City loaded up, up-front in a big way......

[fatlever]

updates on charlie davies

http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_i ... overy.html

"Davies underwent five hours of surgery on Tuesday to repair the following: a lacerated bladder, fractures to the tibia and femur in his right leg, facial fractures and a left elbow fracture.

Davies had titanium rods in his tibia and femur with no complications. He will be hospitalized at least a week, with more surgeries to follow in order to stabilize his left elbow fracture and possibly his facial fractures."