OT: soccer thread

[fatlever]

Who are some great players that aren't on stacked club teams?

here's my pov

stacked clubs = real madrid, barcelona, chelsea, manchester united, arsenal, liverpool (until next year, ouch), inter milan, ac milan, juventus, bayern munich.

some great players not on those clubs, imo... that i can think of... (sure i am missing tons, especially defenders, cause they dont get as much pub)

david silva (spain) - valencia, spain (probably moving to a stacked club this summer)
sergio aguera (argentina) - atletico madrid, spain (see above)
carlos tevez (argentina) - manchester city, england
robinho (brazil) - santos, brazil
luis fabiano (brazil) - sevilla, spain
angel di maria (argentina) - benfica, portugal
oscar cardoza (paraguay) - benfica, portugal
shay given (ireland) - machester united, england
tim howard (usa) - everton, england
landon donovan (usa) - la galaxy, usa
daniele de rossi (italy) - roma, italy
adrian mutu (romania) - fiorentina, italy
tim cahill (australia) - everton, england
aaron lennon (england) - tottenham, england
james milner (england) - aston villa, england
gareth bale (wales) - tottenham, england
jermaine defoe (england) - tottenham, england
wilson palacios (honduras) - tottenham, england
luka modric (croatia) - tottenham, england - yeah, tottenham is rather stacked
yoann gourcuff (france) - bordeaux, france

[fatlever]

i just took 5 pts out of my lineup (ivanovic and agger), i hope it pays off.

[Walt Cronkite]

Thanks for the recs guys, I'll check into those players.

I need a Team USA avatar. Found some okay ones but the RGM servers are shooting me down. Anyone seen some cool ones that are around 80x80 pixels?

[Tupik]

Well I can make/resize one for you if you tell me what you want.

[Tupik]

Damn, what a hard loss for Slovakia, they were about to win the first game in the first World Cup of their history, and they let NZ score at the 93rd minute. Shocked, it must be extremely hard for them.

[doc.end]

Do you know that irrational feeling that something is going to happen in very next seconds and you are sure that it'll happen, actually you are feeling like having flashback like that actually already happened in the past? I was feeling exactly that before New Zealand goal thinking omg, they (Slovakia) are gonna lose this victory, it would be epic as is their very first match on WC (ever) and there wuill be endless talks about it in the media etc.

What a shame that such feelings don't come in advance and you can't bet on the result, lol:)

Fun fact, both my Kiwis played and I would actually did better by replacing Buffon with Paston gaining two more points. I didn't see that coming and kept Buffon in the goal, lol.

[doc.end]

i just took 5 pts out of my lineup (ivanovic and agger), i hope it pays off.

i don't know what are the other potions but it seems like a no-brainers to me. 3 points is just playing nearly whole match without a card, not doing anything (and not letting your team be crushed too much if you are defensman as goals conceded counts against you then).

I subbed better ones.

[Probst]

A lot of young stars at this World Cup to complement the list provided a few posts above. Ozil, Hamsik, Honda, Krasic, Gervinho and Dos Santos to name a few.

Been a pretty disappointing tournament so far, which is compounded by the noise pollution and the horrible ball they are using.

[doc.end]

Grass is a different type than many players are used to too.

In first match today strong wind added another element causing bad passes/shots. (blew against Kiwis first half, against Slovaks in the second)

I just hope second matches will bring more goals optherwise it would be really dissapointing.

[Tupik]

Damn, I really wanted Côte d'Ivoire to win this game. Too bad Drogba only played when the rest of the team slowed down, they seemed really solid in the first half.

[Det the Threat]

Grass is a different type than many players are used to too.

In first match today strong wind added another element causing bad passes/shots. (blew against Kiwis first half, against Slovaks in the second)

I just hope second matches will bring more goals optherwise it would be really dissapointing.

I guess you weren't hoping for that 0-0 draw between Ivory Coast and Portugal.
Though, you could see that neither team wanted to lose and no side took any risks at all.

@fatlever:

Most of the guys you've listed are well known and teams like Sevilla, Valencia or Benfica are almost all the time playing Champions League or at least Europa League.

David Villa is said to be already signed by Barca. Tevez has played two years at Man United and Man City(the team Shay Given also plays for) has shelled out quite some money since that new owners took over and will do the same, hoping to at least finish 4th in the Premier League(would be enough for CL Qualification) next season.
Oh, and Mutu is being banned again for using cocain or something like that.

Anyways, here are some other guys for you, Walt.

Edin Dzeko(VFL Wolfsburg, Bosnia)on the move to Milan or ManUnited if the rumors are true
Marco Reus(Borussia Moenchengladbach, Germany)
Juan Arango(Borussia Moenchengladbach, Venezuela)
Dante Bonfim(Borussia Moenchengladbach, Brasil)
Eljero Elia(Hamburger SV, Netherlands)
Renato Augusto(Bayer Leverkusen, Brasil)
Manuel Neuer(Schalke 04, Germany)
Rene Adler(Bayer Leverkusen, Germany)
Benedikt Howedes(Schalke 04, Germany)
Neven Subotic(Borussia Dortmund, Serbia)
Mats Hummels(Borussia Dortmund, Germany)
Sami Khedira(VFB Stuttgart, Germany)
Lucas Barrios(Borussia Dortmund, Paraguay)
Nuri Sahin(Borussia Dortmund, Turkey)
Carlos Eduardo(TSG Hoffenheim, Brasil)
Igor Akinfeev(ZSKA Moscow, Russia)
Tomas Necid(ZSKA Moscow, Czech Republik)
Hulk(FC Porto, Brasil)
Christian Rodriguez(FC Porto, Uruguay)
Joao Mutinho(Sporting Lissabon, Portugal)
Miguel Veloso(Sporting Lissabon, Portugal)

etc...

[fatlever]

Grass is a different type than many players are used to too.

In first match today strong wind added another element causing bad passes/shots. (blew against Kiwis first half, against Slovaks in the second)

I just hope second matches will bring more goals optherwise it would be really dissapointing.

I guess you weren't hoping for that 0-0 draw between Ivory Coast and Portugal.
Though, you could see that neither team wanted to lose and no side took any risks at all.

@fatlever:

Most of the guys you've listed are well known and teams like Sevilla, Valencia or Benfica are almost all the time playing Champions League or at least Europa League.

David Villa is said to be already signed by Barca. Tevez has played two years at Man United and Man City(the team Shay Given also plays for) has shelled out quite some money since that new owners took over and will do the same, hoping to at least finish 4th in the Premier League(would be enough for CL Qualification) next season.
Oh, and Mutu is being banned again for using cocain or something like that.

Anyways, here are some other guys for you, Walt.

Edin Dzeko(VFL Wolfsburg, Bosnia)on the move to Milan or ManUnited if the rumors are true
Marco Reus(Borussia Moenchengladbach, Germany)
Juan Arango(Borussia Moenchengladbach, Venezuela)
Dante Bonfim(Borussia Moenchengladbach, Brasil)
Eljero Elia(Hamburger SV, Netherlands)
Renato Augusto(Bayer Leverkusen, Brasil)
Manuel Neuer(Schalke 04, Germany)
Rene Adler(Bayer Leverkusen, Germany)
Benedikt Howedes(Schalke 04, Germany)
Neven Subotic(Borussia Dortmund, Serbia)
Mats Hummels(Borussia Dortmund, Germany)
Sami Khedira(VFB Stuttgart, Germany)
Lucas Barrios(Borussia Dortmund, Paraguay)
Nuri Sahin(Borussia Dortmund, Turkey)
Carlos Eduardo(TSG Hoffenheim, Brasil)
Igor Akinfeev(ZSKA Moscow, Russia)
Tomas Necid(ZSKA Moscow, Czech Republik)
Hulk(FC Porto, Brasil)
Christian Rodriguez(FC Porto, Uruguay)
Joao Mutinho(Sporting Lissabon, Portugal)
Miguel Veloso(Sporting Lissabon, Portugal)

etc...

true true... and to be honest... if they dont play in the premier league or in champions league, i'll probably never see them until world cup or european cup rolls around. i forgot about dzeko. rumors have been flying around about that guy for the last year.

[fatlever]

im hoping the scoring will pick up in the later rounds. seems most teams are playing very conservatively in this opening round.

hey doc... how do most czechs feel about slovakia? how did stoch look today?

[Det the Threat]

true true... and to be honest... if they dont play in the premier league or in champions league, i'll probably never see them until world cup or european cup rolls around. i forgot about dzeko. rumors have been flying around about that guy for the last year.

Yeah, shouldn't be all that easy to follow anything else then Premier League and Champions League in the States.

Though, Manuel Neuer, Rene Adler and Igor Akinfeev have been linked to Manchester United(Neuer the most) and Arsenal, as both clubs are looking for new goalkeepers next offseason.
Per Mertesacker(Bremen) has been linked with Arsenal as well and Mesut Oezil's name is being linked with nearly every top club(Man United, Arsenal, Liverpool) in England and if he keeps playing well teams like Real Madrid and Barca might soon be on that list as well.

[Walt Cronkite]

Thanks for the crash course so far Det and Fats. Do different domestic leagues have common stylistic differences? My soccer friend was saying that the Italian league is sort of boring to watch because a lot of the teams play similarly to the Italian NT. I think I remember reading somewhere that EPL is a pretty low scoring league.

I've been enjoying the WC, but if I'm going to stick with soccer I'll need clubs to watch. I know I've seen Italian league action and MLS on channels TWC gets in the Triangle, probably Univision or Telemundo broadcast Spanish speaking league action... kinda hard figuring out where to start... I guess I wouldn't be opposed to getting EPL league pass (or w/e) so I could see those clubs and figure out who I like to watch, but that is a while from starting I think.

[fatlever]

walt,

from what ive seen...

italian league (serie a) - slow and boring - i have a hard time watching it
premier league - fast and intense, very physical, lots of pressure on the ball
spanish league (la liga) - more open, flowing, technical
german league (bundesliga) - i'll let det handle this one. i only see german teams when they play in champions league.
champions league - very exciting, mix of styles, usually more scoring.
mls - seems like lots of fouls, not much techincal skill. i dont watch much mls.

you need to get fox soccer channel. its part of the sport tier package for TWC here in charlotte. they show tons and tons of EPL games and serie a games. they also show all the champions league games. espn 2, usually shows one EPL game every weekend, early in the morning. they also show at least one la liga game each weekend. watching soccer requires DVR action since lots of the games happen early in the morning. and all the champions league games happen during the week when im a work. good thing about soccer here, its easy to avoid scores until you get home to watch games (except world cup where they plaster scores on front page of yahoo).

i think you will love the EPL. its very easy to watch. great atmosphere. i wish we could get bundesliga games regularly here in the US.

i am curious to see what EPL team you decide to follow. while its kinda against my nature to root for a front runner, i decided to pick chelsea because at least i knew they would be on tv a lot and i would get to see them in champions league most years. i refused to follow man u, since they were like the yankees of the epl. and i never really liked liverpool for some reason, so it came down to chelsea vs arsenal and petr cech sealed my love for chelsea over arsenal. tottenham or manchester city may be fun to follow. tottenham has loads of young talent and a fairly decent history and man city has a super rich owner who is determined to buy them a great team and break up the big four. liverpool is getting rocked by financial troubles and will probably suffer for a few years. or you could decide to go way off the grid and follow a mid to lower table team like stoke, wigan, bolton. fulham has clint dempsey and they are decent. everton has tim howard, tim cahill and had landon donovan for a few months and they are usually decent.

[Det the Threat]

Thanks for the crash course so far Det and Fats. Do different domestic leagues have common stylistic differences? My soccer friend was saying that the Italian league is sort of boring to watch because a lot of the teams play similarly to the Italian NT. I think I remember reading somewhere that EPL is a pretty low scoring league.

I've been enjoying the WC, but if I'm going to stick with soccer I'll need clubs to watch. I know I've seen Italian league action and MLS on channels TWC gets in the Triangle, probably Univision or Telemundo broadcast Spanish speaking league action... kinda hard figuring out where to start... I guess I wouldn't be opposed to getting EPL league pass (or w/e) so I could see those clubs and figure out who I like to watch, but that is a while from starting I think.

There are some different styles.

The italian league is pretty boring IMO, but i've heard that it's gotten a little more offensive minded nowadays.
Though, i just don't like Italian football, cause to me they're the guys that invented diving and acting, which i just do not like.

The English Premier League is the most fun to watch, cause it has the biggest stars(right now, though they'll be in financial trouble in the near future IMO) and it's always been the league with the most pace and least acting/diving cause you get booed off the pitch if you're trying to to do stuff like that(ask Christiano Ronaldo).
Though, it's pretty predictable, cause Arsenal, ManUnited, Chelsea and Liverpool always seem to land in the top 4, with ManCity, Tottenham and maybe Aston Villa challenging those teams.

If you're into technical soccer, then the Spanish League should be the way to go. It's less physical then the English League, but it's often a joy to watch with guys like Messi, Christiano Ronaldo etc. playing in this league.

Then there's the German league.
It's the league with the highest attendence and it's the most balanced one. On any given day anyone can beat their opponent even if Bayern plays at Freiburg or St. Pauli.
It's also gotten more qualitiy players, cause it's financially stable and therefore able to bring in better talent in recent years.
Also, even though Bayern are always the favourites to win the title, there are always other teams like Bremen, Stuttgart, Wolfsburg, Hamburg, Schalke, Leverkusen(called Vicekusen cause they never win the title) or even Dortmund challenging for or even winning the title.
Just as an example.
Last season, Hertha BSC Berlin was challenging for the title till the last couple of games(but ended up being 4th place). After losing some of their players they never found their form and got relegated into the 2nd Bundesliga this season, finishing at last place.

Hope that helps you some.

BTW: At least i made one good decision and named Elano as my captain. He got me 24 points thanks to scoring a goal and assisting another one.

[doc.end]

That's good Det , btw how conceded goals are counted - will he still get +1 for 0 goals as a midfielder as he was on the bench when Koreans scored?

Maicon saved me as a captain, 26 points is pure gold and it could be 8 more if they could defend better. It ruined my second brazilese, Alves didn't get crucial +4 for zero goals conceded otherwise if I am not mistaken he could get 6 points in limited time but now he will return to bench. (Is it really like that, that if you get a defensman playing liek 1 minute and no goal conceded (during that minute / entire match) he wil get the cleansheet bonus? that would be strong)

Politics aside, I really want North Korea succeed I always like disciplined teams playing to their strenght plus they don't dive and generally don't seem to know how to play the game deceitful way which is so refreshing in comparison to those teams like Italy etc.

[doc.end]

BTW DET, which german club is your favourite?

Any news about Schalke's Morávek going on loan to Eindhoven? That could do wonders to him, Magath is killing him.

[doc.end]

I think Dutch league is worth mentioning too - it's focused on attacking style nad also their best players are playing in better leagues it produces swarms of offensively polished players.