Unfortunately, despite my hanging up my Barcelona top in the office and using my Barcelona mug, all I can foresee this morning is a MU victory, and by more than a single goal. Of course, they've struck lucky again, as they do for every Euro final
91 ECWC vs Barcelona....latter end up playing an 18 yr old keeper.
99 CL vs Bayern.....biggest highway robbery since Dick Turpin
08 CL vs Chelsea.....John Terry slips on his arse taking penalty after a game of stultifying dullness.
Those who do watch it, I invite you to play the 'MU drinking game'. The teetotaller version is 'drink a measure every time Sky interview an MU 'fan' with a Manchester accent. The alcoholics version is 'drink a measure every time Sky interview an MU fan who has a cockney/Irish/asian/West Country accent.
"The players come from all over the world, the money from deep underneath the Persian Gulf, but, as another, older City poster campaign put it, this is their city. They may now exist in the global spotlight, but they intend to keep it that way."
Barnsley
Blackpool
Bristol City
Cardiff City
Coventry
Crystal Palace
Derby
Doncaster
Ipswich
Leicester
Middlesbrough
Newcastle United
Nottingham Forest
Peterborough
Plymouth
Preston
QPR
Reading
c***
Sheffield United
Sheffield Wednesday
Swansea
Watford
West Brom
That isn't a bad lineup. Will be a very tough league.
Where's the Canaries? Oh, that's right, both my teams got relegated this year. It's been hard enough following Norwich in the Championship. I might as well give up trying to follow them in League One from here in the States. Newcastle has a big enough following that surely a good number of its games will be televised so that I can see them via the Internet. If not, next season will end up just being a long wait for the World Cup.
I believe Sky shows one Championship game each weekend.
Usually about 1pm (GMT) Sunday, but has often showed them on a Saturday too, particularly if there are no Premiership games scheduled for those times.
That must be one of the hardest divisions to get out of in Europe - at least half of those clubs will be looking for average gates of 15k plus, and a few have supposedly got a lot of money available.
"The players come from all over the world, the money from deep underneath the Persian Gulf, but, as another, older City poster campaign put it, this is their city. They may now exist in the global spotlight, but they intend to keep it that way."
It was really good to see Barca win today. They have put together quite a nice season. The assemblage of talent at that club is amazing. Well deserved.
Best team won, plain and simple. I was appalled at how tentative ManU became after Eto'os goal, instead of moving forward they became more conservative. Of course Xavier and Iniesta controlled that midfield in great fashion and at the end of the game the Red Devils maybe had two or three good chances to score the entire game.
Messi was due for a breakout game, and his header was a thing of beauty (how did he get so open), he's my footballer of the year. Great coaching job by Guardiola without some key players, everyone looked sharp and Sylvinho and Puyol did their jobs controlling the likes of Park, Rooney, Ronaldo and later on Tevez. They were all non-factors.
Well, I'm glad Barcelona won, but to be honest the rest of your comments don't make a great deal of sense.
Most English fans are glad Barcelona won - and if you believe what the press say, then that's up to you.
And if Chelsea had won 1-0, then so what ? The scoreline is often not a reflection on the game itself (Chelsea could easily have put 4 or 5 past Barcelona at Stamford Bridge, but were incredibly wasteful), nor is it a reflection on whether a game is entertaining or not. This does seem to be a common assumption amongst American followers of soccer, and I'm never quite sure where it comes from.
Still, at least my journey home tomorrow will be uninterrupted by the victory parade, which is nice.
"The players come from all over the world, the money from deep underneath the Persian Gulf, but, as another, older City poster campaign put it, this is their city. They may now exist in the global spotlight, but they intend to keep it that way."
Those sentiments were expressed. Whether they were representative of all English fans or just a vocal minority, I don't know.
But Chelsea fans were wishing that United really crush Barcelona.
There's no question that the best EPL teams are in ascendance relative to the top clubs in other countries. Certainly this fact has bred hubris in some quarters.
606 has had a running gag with Chelsea fans since the game at Stamford Bridge, asking bitter Blues supporters if they were naturally going to now support United. Takers of that suggestion were few and far between.
I was stunned to see the extent to which ManU was just flattened by the Eto'o goal. They looked like WBA coming to play in Old Trafford, hunkered down in their own end and hoofing it at every turn.
I have to say that personally this game was far more enriching than I ever could've hoped. The twin images of Eto'o undressing War Criminal Vidic and Ronaldo pouting like a little girl will gratify me all summer long.
XBL Gamertag: RobVarak
"Ok I'm an elitist, but I have a healthy respect for people who don't measure up." --Aaron Sorkin
Fox Soccer's analysis on their 10pm show showed just how incredibly lazy Evra was on the opening goal. Maybe he bet his life savings on Eto'o being the first goal scorer.
RobVarak wrote:606 has had a running gag with Chelsea fans since the game at Stamford Bridge, asking bitter Blues supporters if they were naturally going to now support United. Takers of that suggestion were few and far between.
Bandwagon-jumpers.....there's only one club of Bitter Blues, and it sure isn't Chelsea
My 15 min walk back to the railway station last night showed a fair few MU shirts (probably students, given that I was walking through the University area) and quite a few Barcelona shirts....City fans keen to support our Catalan comrades, naturally.
Messi was even playing in blue boots....maybe he was checking to see how the colour suited him
Late Breaking News.....there's been a new outbreak of Swine Flu,
10,000 pig-sick in Rome
"The players come from all over the world, the money from deep underneath the Persian Gulf, but, as another, older City poster campaign put it, this is their city. They may now exist in the global spotlight, but they intend to keep it that way."
"Sometimes soccer is generous to the virtuous teams," wrote Ramon Besa in El Pais, one of Spain's most popular daily newspapers, "and cruel to the evil teams."
Barcelona was not only morally ordained, it was intellectually superior, according to Daniel Alves, the team's Brazilian fullback. Mr. Alves told the press that no English teams could match Barcelona's brain power.
"We want to make sure no English win in Rome," he said. "We will use our intelligence to beat their force. The mind will overcome the body."
"Sometimes soccer is generous to the virtuous teams," wrote Ramon Besa in El Pais, one of Spain's most popular daily newspapers, "and cruel to the evil teams."
Barcelona was not only morally ordained, it was intellectually superior, according to Daniel Alves, the team's Brazilian fullback. Mr. Alves told the press that no English teams could match Barcelona's brain power.
"We want to make sure no English win in Rome," he said. "We will use our intelligence to beat their force. The mind will overcome the body."
Wonder if that applies to Real Madrid as well, beaten home and away by Liverpool ? Or the fact that on another day Chelsea would have popped 4 past Barcelona at Stamford Bridge ?
And obviously Dani Alves's own brainpower wasn't up to much, as he got himself suspended (and defensively is average at best anyway, judging by the fact that Barcelona looked more stable without him.
"The players come from all over the world, the money from deep underneath the Persian Gulf, but, as another, older City poster campaign put it, this is their city. They may now exist in the global spotlight, but they intend to keep it that way."
Actually, I think the article or at least the quotes in it, occurred before the match.
I'm sure their media had more optimistic outlook on their chances than the English media.
More interesting part of the article is the divided loyalties within the country, with regard to the national team.
Heard that at the Copa del Rey, the Catalans and the Basques in the stands booed the Spanish anthem, a direct slap at Juan Carlos who was in attendance.
But I'm sure they'd want to win the World Cup next year.
The Catalans and more particularly the Basques regard themselves more as semi-autonomous regions than Spanish - and languages, though Catalan is very similar to Spanish, no one has ever worked out where the Basque language is from.
Both of these regions, and Galicia if I remember correctly, have 'national' sides which are not FIFA members, but do play a few friendlies a year. You are right, though, about them booing the Spanish anthem, and they do tend to stick together when Spain are playing anyone else.
One club in the Basque region, Athletic Bilbao, will only pick players who are born Basque, which limits their options somewhat but they have never been relegated (flirted with it for a few seasons though). Their close neighbours, Real Sociedad, will buy foreigners but won't play Spaniards who aren't Basques. They did go down, despite finishing second a few years ago.
"The players come from all over the world, the money from deep underneath the Persian Gulf, but, as another, older City poster campaign put it, this is their city. They may now exist in the global spotlight, but they intend to keep it that way."
