Soccer thread 08/09 (will have spoilers!)

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Sat Jun 20, 2009 9:19 am

Are the Irish rights seperate from the UK rights? This might not affect them at all.

ESPN360.com shows Championship matches, but not EPL. Setanta and FSC have the broadband rights in North America.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 2:07 pm

USA Linenup: Guzan, Bornstein, Onyewu,Demerit,Spector,Dempsey,Clark, Bradley Davies, Donovan, Altidore.

Post by **Jared** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 2:11 pm

No Torres or Adu? Ugh.

Post by **Jared** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 4:26 pm

I take that back. USA! USA! USA!

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 4:29 pm

Good news, US advances to Semis.

Bad news, they face Spain.

Italy is pretty unimpressive for a defending WC champion.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 4:36 pm

the difference some heart makes

Feanor · Post by **Feanor** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 4:44 pm

What an awesome result.

Post by **Jared** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 4:51 pm

Another great thing is that even if the US loses to Spain, they get a 3rd place match likely against S. Africa. Nice!

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 5:07 pm

But these additional games would be more meaningful if they helped improve the team.

Perhaps they will, for intangibles like confidence, if they have a decent showing against Spain regardless of the results.

Long term though, these games could give younger player the international experience which might help their development.

The team will probably play the vets though, just like Italy did. This is a meaningless tournament so it might have been a good time to get some experience to the young players.

Post by **Jared** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 8:15 pm

I think Bradley is setting up the Gold Cup for giving younger players international experience against teams that aren't of the same caliber as Brazil, Italy, Spain, etc. I'm fine with giving your best players experience in the Confed Cup...it's not like the national team plays together all that often, and very rarely where they play a series of meaningful games against better opposition over a short time frame (like in the World Cup).

And I have to disagree about the Confed Cup being a meaningless tournament. Spain, Brazil, Italy, etc. all brought their A teams, and played their best players in the tourney. It's not the World Cup or the Euro championship...but then again, what is?

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 8:57 pm

Jared wrote: And I have to disagree about the Confed Cup being a meaningless tournament. Spain, Brazil, Italy, etc. all brought their A teams, and played their best players in the tourney. It's not the World Cup or the Euro championship...but then again, what is?

Agreed!

Its not the WC,Euro or Copa America but this is the real deal...They all came to play.

It was great flipping the games.

Awesome result!...Even if they get slaughtered by Spain it was good to see the heart....Plus I think this is far greater experience for WC play than those goofy tournaments they usually play in.

Feanor · Post by **Feanor** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 10:31 pm

I have to congratulate the NZ team for getting out first point in a proper FIFA competition. The coach got a bit carried away on the sideline after the game since it was only a draw, though.

It could have easily been our first win if not for some terrible finishing by the strikers, who are actually supposed to be some of our better players.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 10:43 pm

What's the story with Australia and Japan?

It's not trash talk but there seems to be some mutual disdain being expressed.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 11:56 pm

Charlies Davies is what this team needed. A scrapy guy with a head on him like Tevez. He'll never be a top flight guy, but his heart spurred the rest of the team.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 9:04 am

Preview of Owen at Everton.

Naples39 · Post by **Naples39** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 9:17 am

Incredible day for the US team. Hard to believe it really happened. I love Bornstein's quote;

It's like that quote from 'Dumb and Dumber': 'So you're telling me there is a chance.' That's what we kept saying.

Even when the US was playing early, they were wasting scoring opportunities and the odds of them actually finishing 3 or more seemed remote. Yeah, we were playing Egypt without their 2 best attackers, but the Egyptian backline never looked like stopping us either.

Also, some players were making a note to say they didn't do anything differently lineup wise, but like squid I don't think the addition of Charlie Davies was trivial. We need to see lineups with 2 pure strikers on the field more often, pushing and stretching the defense.

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 9:54 am

Blimey, get a grip lads - you beat Egypt, currently ranked #40 in the world.

In other soccer news, here's Newcastle's new away kit for the Championship, just to make sure that they aren't a complete laughing stock.

Ooops, did I say aren't a complete laughing stock ? Looks like the sort of boiled sweet my grandparents preferred.

Is anyone else reading Steven Taylor's forced smile as 'for f**k's sake, get me out of here, please...I'll even sign for Wigan.'

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 10:52 am

Sure they're hideous, but think of the fodder they create for singing by rival fans!!

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 11:18 am

GolTV has sublicensed some of their La Liga package to ESPN. ESPN plans to show 20 of those games on ESPN2 next season.

miget33 · Post by **miget33** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 1:06 pm

even better, matches on ESPN360 as well

And they also have gained the UK EPL rights

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 2:44 pm

ESPN has bought both of the 23 match packages. Over here both will be sold through Sky via PPV. Bear in mind that this will fall to 23 in season 10/11 onward, as Setanta only had 1 package of the 6 in the last round of bidding.

No news yet as to the other rights, though I'm hoping someone picks up the Bundesliga and SPL.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 4:04 pm

Saw a list of the top 20 attended clubs in Europe. Newcastle was #17, 9 Bundesliga teams were in the top 20.

fsquid · Post by **fsquid** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 4:13 pm

Gooch to Fenerbache.

davet010 · Post by **davet010** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 4:29 pm

fsquid wrote:Saw a list of the top 20 attended clubs in Europe. Newcastle was #17, 9 Bundesliga teams were in the top 20.

Not surprised, the size of some of those stadia is enormous, and they keep the costs down due to standing areas. Can't wait to get to an 1860 game next season

Squid - Heiko Westermann (schalke), any good ?

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 12:34 pm

ESPN deal for EPL doesn't mean they will show games in the US.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1245695 ... d=djemITPE

They picked up Setana's rights when Setana couldn't pay the 10 million pounds it bid (doesn't seem a lot but it must not have covered rights to broadcast in the UK?).

ESPN Deportes shows Euro matches in Latin America, maybe not EPL though.