Beautiful Game 12/13 Thread (Major EPL slant)

[10spro]

A few posts back I mentioned this uncanny feeling I have about Dortmund making it all the way to the finals. It is thrillers like today's comeback in stoppage time that support my prediction. It wasn't pretty, but with a lot of luck and good bounces they are in the semis now.

[fsquid]

Jesus, that was out of the blue today. Well done by Dortmund.

[fsquid]

[Jimmydeicide]

Champions League RULES!!!!!!!! OMG.

Love Dortmund, love the atmosphere in their stadium and Bundesliga but what happened to the team that played City off the park in the group stages ? its a totally different brand of football than what they where playing.

Sad for Mallaga.

[10spro]

It feels cheap to win by more away goals but that's exactly what Barca did today against PSG. The home team never had the precision soccer that characterizes them because Fabregas was not connecting with Xavi or Iniesta as the best player in the world was sitting in the bench with hamstring issues.

But once he came into the game, Barca started to cruise at their usual pace and Pedro tied the game. Neither team deserved to win tonight as the damage was already done back in Paris.

Two German teams, two Spanish teams, I hope to see Real-Dortmund and Bayern-Barca in the draw.

[pk500]

Two German teams, two Spanish teams, I hope to see Real-Dortmund and Bayern-Barca in the draw.

I have the opposite opinion: I'd rather see Barca-Real and Dortmund-Bayern in the semis to avoid an all-German or all-Spanish final.

How many times can Barca escape?

[rhymes450]

Malaga got shafted. Two separate cases of offside in the "goal" that put them out of the tournament. 3 offside goals (that I know of) in the course of the 4 CL quarter finals. Only solution I can think of to avoid this kind of travesty is the implementation of video technology to help officials...or maybe change the rule if it can't be applied with more consistent accuracy in its current form.

Edit: My bad.

Didn't realise that Malaga's second goal was also clearly offside so in this case I guess two wrongs sort of makes a right. Brings the offside goals tally in the quarters to 4 though.

[Macca00]

After today's draw, I'm really, really hoping for an all-German final (with a Dortmund win, sorry squid!) A Barca vs. Real final would, in my opinion, be incredibly dour and underwhelming because Mourinho would set out his team to just kill the game - a perfectly legitimate strategy, but when it's not my team it's not something I want to see.

I think Barca are in for a beating against Bayern if they're not careful.

[rhymes450]

Because I live in Spain, I'd have to hope for a Barca-Madrid final. The national team have done great things in recent years but I doubt that even the excitement generated by those triumphs would match the interest created by a superclasico at Wembley. IMO, recent political initiatives by Catalonian nationalists, a weak economy and the controversial figure of Mourinho seem to have fuelled the rivarly between the two clubs even more. I'm pretty sure there are plenty of Madridistas who, despite their patriotic tendencies, would quite happily exchange all Spain's trophies for a win over Barca at Wembley.

I'd agree that it's a big opportunity for Bayern to turn Barca over, especially given that the Barca defence will probably be very depleted, at least for the first leg.

For those interested in getting the Spanish take on things (mainly Madridista, it has to be said), Madrid sports daily Diario As has recently begun to offer an online version in English:

http://www.as.com/english/

[fsquid]

Bayern and Dortmund have already cemented their spots in their domestic league (Bayern has already won the title and Dortmund will qualify for the CL next year). Don't be surprised if their sqauds are fresher due to them playing weakened sides in the league those weeks.

[10spro]

The semis turned out to be exactly as I wished them to be. Wouldn't be shocked at all if both Germans teams advance to the finals but deep inside I would love to see the Clasico played out in the finals. Real seems to own Barca this season but when you have the best two footie players in the world facing against each other it's both a marketing and pure soccer dream.

Now before we reach that stage as rhymes was pointing it out, if Barca continues to play D the way they've been playing, it's game over against the most consistent team of them all in Bayern although Dortmund is yet to lose a game.

[wco81]

Barca has pretty much wrapped up La Liga too, hasn't it?

They may play Messi more than necessary, chasing individual records.

[rhymes450]

Barca has pretty much wrapped up La Liga too, hasn't it?

They may play Messi more than necessary, chasing individual records.

I agree. Barca have the Liga more or less wrapped up, putting them in a similar situation to the German sides, though they have a worse injury situation as far as I know.

Real Madrid are in a bit of a dilemma, just 3 pts clear of a resurgent Atletico de Madrid in the race to qualify directly for the CL group league stages, with the two teams scheduled to meet in the Copa del Rey final on May 17. A worst case scenario would involve finishing behind Atleti in the league, losing the Copa del Rey and not winning the CL. If you add in Mourinho's battle of wills with the hugely popular Iker Casillas, the next couple of months are going to be very entertaining on and off the pitch at Real Madrid.

[Macca00]

I love him but he's a lucky, lucky boy that he wasn't red carded.

[fsquid]

NBC Announces how they will cover the EPL today, these are taken from Twitter:

NBC's lead EPL broadcast team: Arlo White, Lee Dixon and Graeme Le Saux.

NBC's EPL studio team: Rebecca Lowe, Robbie Earle and Robbie Mustoe.

Gary Lineker will serve as a contributor to #BPLonNBC, and occasional on-site studio host.

will feature 154 matches on NBCSN, 20 on NBC, 22 on other NBCUMV networks, 76 in Spanish, and 184 on a free overflow package.

NBCSN will air games on Saturdays at 7 and 10:30 a.m. ET and 8/11 a.m. ET on Sundays. NBC will air matches Saturdays at 12:30 ET

NBCSN will also air matches Mondays and midweek at 2:30 p.m. ET.

NBCSN will also air studio shows, a BPL version of 36, a 30-minute post-game each Sunday, and two-hour reruns of games on Mon. and Tues.

NBCSN will also air a 90-minute Sunday show each week modeled after Match of the Day, and Sunday night reruns of the match of the week.

NBCSN will air two nightly BPL highlight shows. Match of the Day will air for 2 hours every Saturday, Match of the Day 2 90 mins on Sundays.

[wco81]

What the hell is NBCSN?

[fsquid]

NBC Sports Network, its the old versus

[pk500]

NBC's lead EPL broadcast team: Arlo White, Lee Dixon and Graeme Le Saux.

I'll miss Sir Ian and Macca, but that's not a bad team.

[Zeppo]

ESPN may still do their one to two games a week. I'm not sure that's part of this.

And I hate Arlo White. The guy never shuts up. It's like he's doing a horse race or trying to see how many words he can fit into a given amount of time. Also he is guilty of absurd hyperbole and overstatement.

But whatever. I imagine most of the games will just have the local Brit announcer feeds. I'm very impressed that the main NBC ota network will show 20 games. And live, too, not the tape delays Fox would do on their ota network for the few games they would show. That's pretty big.

[fsquid]

Don't see how ESPN would still have a game a week since they sub licensed that from FOX as part of the contract that is expiring.

[Murph]

Arlo and the boys do a great job with MLS games. I'll assume they get pulled off of MLS. I wonder who takes over?

[Murph]

Arlo heads back to U.K.

http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2 ... nbc-sports

[pk500]

Arlo and the boys do a great job with MLS games. I'll assume they get pulled off of MLS. I wonder who takes over?

The Dark Ages of U.S. footy telecasts always could be returned if Jack Edwards returned to the booth.

[Murph]

Arlo and the boys do a great job with MLS games. I'll assume they get pulled off of MLS. I wonder who takes over?

The Dark Ages of U.S. footy telecasts always could be returned if Jack Edwards returned to the booth.

I'm up here in New England and Jack seems like he's happy as a clam doing Boston Bruins games on NESN. Anything is possible though I suppose.

[Murph]

Arlo and the boys do a great job with MLS games. I'll assume they get pulled off of MLS. I wonder who takes over?

The Dark Ages of U.S. footy telecasts always could be returned if Jack Edwards returned to the booth.

I'm up here in New England and Jack seems like he's happy as a clam doing Boston Bruins games on NESN. Anything is possible though I suppose.