The Beautiful Game Thread 10/11

[JRod]

Geez, I don't know what Bale has put in his Cheerios but goodness, like the announcers said today... He's the hottest player on the planet. I don't know if he can sustain this but he's fun to watch at the moment.

Haha @ Liverpool.

[JRod]

Chelsea

[Feanor]

Might be a great title race this season.

[wco81]

Maybe these clubs will spend more than they planned to in the transfer window.

[Naples39]

Worst sequence of plays ever?

[RobVarak]

At last real life imitates one of my FIFA clubs games!

[Naples39]

Bradley has called in a completely unrecognizable lineup for a friendly versus South Africa next Wednesday. Might be worth watching just to check out some new prospects, even if it means at least 45 minutes of seeing Robbie Findley in a USA uniform.

GOALKEEPERS (2): Dominic Cervi (Celtic), Brad Guzan (Aston Villa)
DEFENDERS (7): Gale Agbossoumonde (Estoril Praia), Nat Borchers (Real Salt Lake), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), Clarence Goodson (Brondby), Eric Lichaj (Aston Villa), Tim Ream (New York Red Bulls), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United)
MIDFIELDERS (6): Alejandro Bedoya (Örebro), Brian Carroll (Columbus Crew), Mikkel Diskerud (Stabaek), Eddie Gaven (Columbus Crew), Logan Pause (Chicago Fire), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew)
FORWARDS (3): Juan Agudelo (New York Red Bulls), Teal Bunbury (Kansas City Wizards), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake)

Forgot to set the DVR, but amazingly espn3 works at my office using my comcast sign in.

Not sure I want to watch though with Findley starting as the lone forward. Yikes.

[RobVarak]

I don't know what he did, but Messi just made my Twitter feed 'splode!

[miget33]

I don't know what he did, but Messi just made my Twitter feed 'splode!

Well, that was just Messi being Messi. Lovely goal

[10spro]

Argentina-Brazil played a friendly in Qatar. S. Batista has been confirmed as full time manager for the white and blue and he's been unbeaten since the WC. By bringing guys back like D'Alessandro, Zanetti, Cambiasso, the midfield is much more balanced than Diego's 4-2-4 and with the inclusion of E. Lavezzi (how about that backheel pass to Messi), the team has more weight from the midfield upfront.

Here's that lovely goal Rob, in the last minute of the game.

[miget33]

Choke job by the Goonies.

[Macca00]

1) What a goal by Luke Varney.

2) I wish Spurs weren't managed by Harry Redknapp because I really enjoy watching them. Is Gareth Bale for real? Do his ears impart some kind of magical power?

3) I hope De Jong's elbow is okay after Zoltan Gera blatantly headbutted it. (Yes, Dave, he's not a dirty player because Steven Gerrard and his mates beat someone up in a club)

4) Hope Mark Hughes will shut up now.

5) My dad is going to get fired in Italy. Which is only fair because they have been utterly crap.

[miget33]

The Berba strikes.

[fsquid]

WEdnesday has been bought. You bitches are on notice.

[Macca00]

Great marking/covering by Konchesky. Superb signing he's been.

To be fair, I thought we'd have been absolutely slaughtered today so losing 2-1 isn't that bad.

Too bad Maxi though it would be better to fall down on a breakaway rather than set Liverpool 2-0 up.

PS f*** off Martin Atkinson.

[JRod]

Um Chelsea seems to be mirroring every single FM game I played. Run into a buzz saw to allow everyone else to catch up.

[Jimmydeicide]

Great marking/covering by Konchesky. Superb signing he's been.

To be fair, I thought we'd have been absolutely slaughtered today so losing 2-1 isn't that bad.

Too bad Maxi though it would be better to fall down on a breakaway rather than set Liverpool 2-0 up.

PS f*** off Martin Atkinson.

Not one mention of your superstar Torres not even getting a shot off on 2 clear breakaways
How big does Ngog think his head is? Hes a waste of space .
Was it Kyragos or whatever 34 's brother is called that was out muscled in the air by the Joe Jordanesque Peter Crouch .

Its bad when Lucas was your best player.

Id go there before anything Atkinson did but hes a ref so you always have a good point with that.

[toonarmy]

Barca's throttling of Real 5-0 has to be one of the more masterful displays of football in recent memory. That was one amazing masterpiece of a match to watch.

[rhymes450]

Barca's throttling of Real 5-0 has to be one of the more masterful displays of football in recent memory. That was one amazing masterpiece of a match to watch.

Agreed. the capacity of this team to play exquisite football in the tightest of spaces when they have the ball and to make life intolerable for the opposition when they haven't got it is almost unprecedented, especially when you consider the quality of Real Madrid's players. Maybe AC Milan at the end of the 80s and beginning of the 90s were at the same or even a higher level. Time will tell.

[wco81]

Some kind of brawl broke out, didn't it?

[toonarmy]

Some kind of brawl broke out, didn't it?

A skirmish in extra time. Ramos made a blatantly cheap tackle on Messi from behind and the Barca players charged the players of Real. Puyol got pushed down and tempers flared, but it was a pretty typical football flare-up. Nothing too bad.

[RobVarak]

Amazing display. They knocked around Real like they were a pub team. Messi is operating at a staggeringly great level right now.

[10spro]

It's 'El Gran Clasico', when you lose to your eternal rivals by 5, you're going to have cheap fouls like the one Ramos committed on Messi who was dancing at will all night long.

Maybe Mourinho should have never fueled any ammunition on Sunday when he said:

"When I went to Barcelona with Chelsea or Inter it was fun, but now it will be even more fun". Oh Jose...

[toonarmy]

It's hard to compare teams from different eras, but I agree with folks who are putting this Barca team up with the best teams of the past couple decades. I've seen them play quite a bit this year and it is not only a great collection of talent, but it is also a team in the true sense of the word. They are a well-oiled machine that look like they have been together for 10 years. The scary thing is they continue to develop young phenoms that are tremendously talented. I am recording the replay of today's match right now to watch a couple more times. What they did to a ridiculously capable Real team is still hard to digest.

[Macca00]

Simply amazing.