Yep, it's that time of year again. Most leagues in Europe are about to start or have already started so it's prediction time. In a similar vein to Ten Ton Alien's thread, I want to know who you think will win:

1. The Champion's League
2. The UEFA Cup
3. The domestic league title in your own country.

I'll also be interested to read about what we all think about the World Cup qualifiers that are about to get underway and how we rate our own nation's chances as the competition unfolds. Other subjects that I'm interested to read about is transfer speculation and general goings-on within the different leagues. I love football, so I'm interested in what other people from other nations have to say.

Well, I guess I'll start things off:

1. I'm going to wait for the draw to be made but as an early prediction, I'm going to say Arsenal. I think that with the style of football that they play, that it's going to be their year this year. They are just a quality side and I think their experiences in Europe over the past two years will have made them stronger and in a good position to mount a sustained challenge this season.

2. Predicting the UEFA Cup is a little more difficult because there are many more teams in it at the beginning and there are usually some shocks early in the competition. I haven't seen the full list of clubs in the competition as of yet so I'm going to reserve my judgement until the First Round Proper is drawn.

3. For the Premiership, although I would dearly love Liverpool to win it, I can't see beyond Arsenal. They are the best team in the league by a country mile, even if Vieira goes to Madrid (which it looks like he wont). Put your money on them now, while the odds are generous.

Liverpool are in good shape at the moment - we've had a good pre-season and Cisse has scored goals which is a good sign. Of course, the best news was hearing that Gerrard turned down an opportunity to go to Chelsea. Unfortuantely though, after 297 games and 178 goals, Michael Owen has decided to leave Anfield for the sunnier climes of Madrid.

I think it's a bad decision on his part - he's just not going to get into the Real team. Raul is a certainty to play whenever he is fit as he is the club captain and Ronaldo was the top scorer (I think) in the Spanish league last season. Where's the room for Owen? He'll be back in England in a year's time, just like Ian Rush when he went to Juventus.

Anyway, that should be enough to breath life into our footballing minds and I look forward to reading the opinions of fellow football-loving Metaltabenese folk.

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1.For the Champion's League I think Real
Madrid(though I hate this team) will
win it ,cause they finally got a good defender(Samuel)
and if they take Vieira(which is unlikely though)
they will be unbeatable.

2.I don't have a clue yet for the UEFA cup(we'll
probably play there after our failure to qualify
for the Champion's League group stage,unless
of course we beat Maccabi in Tel Aviv with
a 4-0 score.haha!)

3.As for our domestic league I think Panathinaikos
will win( I've made a bet with a friend of mine who thinks
Olympiakos will win it).Of course Olympiakos has many
good new players,while Panathinaikos sold his best
players(but Panathinaikos has support from the goverment now
,while Olympiakos had support from the last goverment
for 8 years.Things have changed)


For the Premiership I think Chelsea will win it,if they
don't they will be one of the biggest failures ever
after all those transfers and Mourinho taking over as
coach

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w00t! another footy thread, cheers john!

I'm gonna go on a major rant, but not right now lol, since I don't have the time.

but I will tell you that AS Monaco will do well again and don't underestimate Ajax I this year...

in my country its between AZ, Ajax, Feyenoord and PSV, but Feyenoord has got a lot of new (good) played and their new coach is Ruud Gullit so thats promising!

Ajax will do well, no doubt, but its going to be tight I think, AZ is going to be the surprise of the year.

Have the Dutch/Greek leagues started yet? I can imagine the Greek league starting later because of the Olympics.

Liverpool drew 1-1 against Spurs at the weekend but we looked much the better team. Arsenal walloped Everton (ha-ha!) 4-1 and looked impressive, even without Vieira, Campbell and Pires.

I wasn't impressed with Chelsea or Man Utd. Chelsea looked to be playing very defensive and hardly had any shots on goal which was very disappointing considering they were the home team. They had Duff and Robben out injured though, so maybe it's better to judge Chelsea when those players are fit again. Utd were very poor, they don't inspire fear in opponents like they used to. I think that they are a fading team and I can't see it turning around (Ha-ha!).

My top four for the Premiership, based on the opening weekend, would be:

1. Arsenal
2. Liverpool
3. Chelsea
4. Man Utd

I'm looking forward to the rant, Def!

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Our championship will be starting in
October.
Today we won our first gold olympic metal(in sychronised
diving) and a bronze one in weight lifting.Yeah!

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Liverpool got Dijibril Cisse, wich is a good striker i think!!

Michael Owen------Real Madrid!!!hehehe.

Milan will win everything this season!!!

Forza Milan!!

hey john, what line-up do you think is better for liverpool??

my line-up would be:

---------cisse------baros---------

Kewell----------------------Diouf

-------gerrard----haaman---------

Riise---Henchoz--Hyypia----Finnan

------------Kirkland---------------


Cheers Bro!!

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Hmm... Not a bad team and not far from what I would pick. The right side of midfield is the problem position - Diouf is out on loan and we've just sold Danny Murphy. I guess, I'd give young Stephen Warnock a shot at left midfield and move Kewell to the right. Alternatively, we could also give Jon Otsemobor a chance to pay as a winger - he usually plays at right back but he's similar to Ashley Cole in that he attacks like a winger.

It isn't an ideal situation but it'll do until we sign Alonso (from Real Sociedad) and Garcia (a right winger from Barcelona). The Alonso deal is 99% done but I'm not sure about the Garcia transfer. Either way, Nunez arrives from Madrid as part of the Owen deal this week and he can play on the right, but I'll have to see him in action before he gets in my Liverpool dream team.

Anyway, the team I would pick at the moment would be:

GK: Kirkland
LD: Riise
CB: Hyypia
CB: Carragher
RD: Josemi
LM: Warnock
CM: Gerrard
CM: Hamann/Alonso (when he arrives)
RM: Kewell (just until a proper right winger arrives)
CF: Cisse
CF: Baros

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Tonight there were three games:

Austria : Germany 1:3
Sweden : Holland 2:2
Czech Rep. : Greece 0:0

For germany and Holland it was the first game with the new coaches.
Germany won their match but Austria isn't a strong football country.
Holland made a draw agianst the strong swedish team. I thonk it was a good start for van Basten.
And Greece continues their good playing of the Euro2004. In two weeks the qualifications for the World Cup 2006 start. And Germany will play a friendly against the world champion Brazil. I hope they will play good against them!

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Yeah, England played too. We won 3-0 against the Ukraine. However, our dear, dear friends in Scotland contrived to get beat 3-0 by Hungary! At home! Hahahahahahahahaaaaaahaha! Anyway...

I was surprised at the Germany win considering how inexperienced Klinsmann is as a manager. I know it's early, but do you think he's a good choice, Sodomaniac?

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Holland played an attractive game if you ask me, plus the selection has been changed enourmously, theres like 11 new players in the total selection!!

well at least Van Basten puts out his guts and plays with 3 attackers, which makes sense, we've got some great attackers but we only play with one, haha. anyways, I wrote a huge rant but my pc kinda crashed on soulseek it doesn't work well here.

I'll be back in this thread though, but I'm going to the Lowlands festival first, see ya guys monday

I will tell you after the match against brazil!

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Hell yell! Holland has some HOTTIEZ on thier team!!

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Hahahaha! I hope Germany beat them! (I never thought I'd hear myself saying that, hehe!)

I used to like Brazil but now I don't because it always seems to me that they stay the number 1 ranked team in the world no matter how poor they play. They always struggle in qualifying for the World Cup and yet they stay ranked number 1? I think it's a conspiracy!

Before anyone says that I'm mad and there surely can't be a conspiracy within FIFA, I'll say one word: Iraq. Iraq are ranked as the 40th best international team in the world above the likes of Bulgaria, Switzerland, Australia and Peru. If that isn't evidence of politics in sport, then I don't know what is!

Anyway... have a good one Def!

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I hope it too !!
That would be really great and I agree that another team should win the world cup .... but not brazil again! Maybe a surprise like in the Euro2004.

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I think it'd be good if Holland or Spain won it, just for a change.

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What about Portugal ?? Or Greece ! xD

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What a good idea!

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Nah, I like seeing Christiano Ronaldo crying like a girl when they lose!

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sorry, we are the only team with 5 stars on the badge!

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Yeah, s'pose...

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The champons-league-games will be a pain in the ass for the german clubs.


My fav-club, FC Schalke 04, will play against Metalheads in the first uefa-cup round: Liepajas Metalurgs. I love this name!!!

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dunno y real madrid bought another striker...wat they need is a central defender

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ive heard r.carlos has left real.........where has he gone??????

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I've not heard that - he's still there as far as I know. They bought Jonathan Woodgate last week and in the summer they acquired Walter Samuel from Roma so I think they've bought two good centre-halves. They'll be a force in Europe this season.

The full Champions League group listings are as follows:

Group A:
Deportivo La Coruna
Liverpool
Monaco
Olympiakos

Group B:
Real Madrid
Roma
Bayer Leverkusen
Dynamo Kiev

Group C:
Bayern Munich
Juventus
Ajax
Maccabi Tel-Aviv

Group D:
Manchester United
Lyon
Sparta Prague
Fenerbahce

Group E:
Arsenal
Panathinaikos
PSV Eindhoven
Rosenborg

Group F:
Barcelona
Milan
Celtic
Shakhtar Donetsk

Group G:
Valencia
Internazionale
Anderlecht
Werder Bremen

Group H:
Porto
Chelsea
Paris Saint Germain
CSKA Moscow

After that seeing these groups, I still think Arsenal will win it.

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has arsenal ever one the champions league.....dont think they perform that well as they do in the epl

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No, they've never won the Champions League but as soon as they do, I'm pretty sure they'll go down as one of the best club sides ever.

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i think i will suport CSKA Moskow, because CSKA striker Vagner Love was a player of my brazilian team, PALMEIRAS!!!!!

SAUDAÇÕES ALVI-VERDES!

But Milan will win the league again!

Forza Milan!

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I hope you beat Olympiakos with atleast 5 goals!
Also I hope Fenerbahce will not qualify

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poul A C and F will be kickass to follow.

why the grudge against Fenerbahce? hellblaster?

they've been doing great since Van Hooijdonk is in their team

Hahahahaha! We'll try our best!

Def: I presume because Hellblaster supports PAOK that they are local rivals?

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hope to see man u play bayern munich and real madrid during the latter stages

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I hope Man Utd don't make it to the latter stages, but that wont happen because for the fifth year running they've been drawn in the easiest group.

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It may not be (entirely) relevant, but who won the gold in soccer? I was watching it about 2 hours ago, but a sudden rush of A.D.D. swept over me and I changed the channel.

In the Olympics by the way, if I wasn't clear enough.

Argentina won 1-0 but I don't know who scored the goal. Paraguay had two players sent off!

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Expulsions:
MARTINEZ Emilio (PAR) 66' Red Card, FIGUEREDO Diego (PAR) 82' 2nd Yellow

Hehehe..

Carlos Tevez scored, apparently.

Olympic football isn't of the highest standard - Iraq got to the semi-finals! Political machinations? Surely not...

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I noticed.. I was a bit puzzled there. I'm not the biggest football whiz around, but even I could figure that one out. I'm a devoted football video gamer, we don't get the matches on TV here.

The head of FIFA, Sepp Blatter, is corrupt - this has been well-documented in the past. How he is allowed to run the most popular sport in the world is beyond me.

Hey, Nihilist, I think I remember from a while back that you said you support Arsenal. They've just broken Nottingham Forest's 25 year old record of 42 league games unbeaten. They're on 43 at the moment and I honestly can't see them losing!

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Oh really? That's excellent. I vividly remember watching a game of theirs at around 4 in the morning aaaaaaages ago. 43 without loss though. That's fucking amazing, hah.

It's fucking awesome and I'm not even an Arsenal fan! It's even more amazing when you consider the comparitive records of the two teams:

Nottingham Forest: P42 W21 D21 L0
Arsenal: P43 W31 D12 L0

Arsenal don't just sit back and take draws like that Forest side of '77-'78 - they go out and win, and in style.

It'll be 44 games without defeat by the end of today, too, as they are away to Norwich (only just promoted this season).

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Arsenal is lucky with their group man, PSV has been playing shyte lately since they sold all their best players!

Ajax is in a pretty difficult poule but I'm pretty sure they'll do well, they've got a good played in team and they keep growing, which is weird since they sell all their good players every year and they keep coming up with decent teams, I'm pretty sure its because Ajax has a really, really good yought program.

oh, Marco Van Basten used to coach Ajax II, and they won everything there was to win for juniors, now he's coaching the national team, I dunno how well he will do but I'm sure the players have a lot more respect for Marco 'Goalo' then for Dick Advocaat

Marco Goalo! Hahahaha! Maybe he can 'discover' some good times for the Dutch and 'take them to places they've never been to before' in terms of the World Cup! Sorry, couldn't resist...

I hope Ajax do well as I've always had a soft spot for them. The team that won the European Cup in the 90's was awesome and was built on young Dutch players. That's the way football clubs should be - local players for the local club.

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yup, and what about the game against porto back in the day

no really big players in there, well not well known at that moment, most of them got their name well known after that.

just think about all the players Ajax has delivered to soccer, its insane. our competition doesnt have the kind of budget that england, italy or spain has, so its difficult for teams to hold on to their players..

Yeah, I think the rest of Europe circles Ajax's youth academy like vultures and waits for the next crop of young players to roll off the production line! It must be something you Dutch folk put in the water that enables you to produce great young players almost at will.

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^^ lol lol

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and yet they hav a tough time for fighting a spot for the world cup

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dont know y though..they ve got great players like davids,stam,van nistilrooy,overmars to name a few

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Well Fenerbahce are turkish!
The team I hate more though is
Olympiakos(the biggest team here in Greece,winning
every match and when the players can't,the referee can!)
If a turkish team played with Olympiakos I would have
a very difficult dillema as to which to support.

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Hahahaha, someone needs to pay their electricity bills in Valencia! The Scotland v Spain match was abandoned tonight due to floodlight failure while the game was 1-1.

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The same thing happened here to Aris(one of the big
teams) last year!Their chairman's reaction
was : (in an angry tone) What do
you want from us,we are just people!
We forgot to pay the bills.So what?!?!?!

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our revenge on the Czechs.... after beeing screwed at the EC

Holland - Czech Republic - 2 - 0

and ofcourse a nice 3 qualifying points for us! next up is moldavia.

both teams had a lot of injuries tonight, we didn't have Bouma, Van Nistelrooy, Zenden, Robben, Boukari, etc... the Czechs didn't have some of the midfielders, but they had Koller, Barros, Rosicky and that Jan Ku-something, anyways, their best players where there IMO, only Smicer was really missing.

We had the young team, like Marco Van Basten promised after winning the other game 3-0 this week, he promised to let the young guys have a shot at the czechs, good stuff, Dirk Kuyt, Boularouz and Romeo Castelen all served the team really well. van Hooijdonk scored all the goals, but he was the only striker with experience if you ask me... Davids played another killer of a game, Van der Vaart and Sneyder wheren't bad, Heitinga was awfull, but Ooijer did well (another young PSV'er)

good stuff, its nice to see the national team play attractive soccer again, it wouldn't matter if they played even or lost, I'm just happy to see they're playing their own game again and not taking too much interest in the opponent!

did you guys lose?

Germany : Brazil 1:1 !!!

germany played well ! I was happy to see the german playing like this ...
I think germany is on a good way !

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wtf, did brazil played with a B team or what?

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maybe, but brasil hasn't been playing that great lately, they're not on top of their game like they used to be.

good shit by germany though, I didn't see the game, but I hope they didn't play the same defending style like at the EC, that was just boring as fuck!

If only you could see him play for Liverpool... he's diabolical.

I haven't seen any of the goals but I read the scores in the paper. I was quite surprised at the Holland result, but I guess Van Basten has instilled a new leash of life into the team. From what you said, Def, the future really is Orange!

I was also surprised at the Germany result. I though they'd win! Hamann didn't play though and I think he is one of Germany's best midfielders. He's brilliant for Liverpool, although he doesn't score much.

Oh well, I'm just happy England won against Poland. Defoe took his goal very well indeed - we'll be seeing a lot more of this guy, I'm sure of that. I was so fucking glad that David James was dropped (like one of his attempts at catching a cross!). Now all we need to do is take him out back and put him out of his misery with a 12 guage.

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ah, germany brasil was a FRIENDLY match... now I get the score

Roemania or something is doing really well qualifying, Greece is doing shit, they lost one game and the other was tied with turkey. way to go european champs lol.

I don't know how well our national team will do in the future, it really depends if the young guys will be left in, Van Basten doesnt give a fuck about everybody else's opinion which is good! he left out Kluivert out of the selection, same goes for some other rather well known players, I think Kluivert will eventually end up getting in the final 22, but I'm not sure... he's still the top scorer for holland... Van Hooijdonk did well scoring two goals, but Van Nistelrooy would have made more.. Robben was injured which was a shame, we need a good winger!

Defoe, don't even know the guy, for what team is he keeping? LOL, James didn't make himself populair did he? I though he didn't do that bad at all in EC, but hey.. Van Der Sar had some excellent saves yesterday, I don't see anyone replacing him... but he's quitting after this WC and the guy taking over from him is Stekelenburg, but Terol is great too, they're the top keepers in our national competition right now. I don't think thats gonna be a problem, but we do need good steady defenders, the only ones able to do that now are Heitinga (who started in the EC), Ooijer (PSV) and thats pretty much it, we had one suprise and that was Boulahrouz, or something, he's from our competition too, he played great against the Czechs and against Liechtenstein. good shit, I like watching a team grow.

Defoe is a striker (he scored our first goal) and he plays for Tottenham Hotspur. He's very similar to Owen: small and quick. He's quicker than Owen (Owen isn't as quick as he used to be though) although not as quick as Owen when Owen was 17-18. Owen's the better finisher but Defoe has got more skill and better control. I think they can work very well together up front.

Paul Robinson (also of Spurs) replaced James in goal. He's young for a goalkeeper - still only 23 - so he has plenty of time to develop into a world class 'keeper. However, I prefer Chris Kirkland (only 22-23 himself). He's Liverpool's current no. 2 goalkeeper (behind Dudek) but I think this is mainly down to the fact that he's injured all the time. As soon as he gets over his injury problems he'll be England's goalkeeper before long.

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Dudek is pretty shit, lol.

I remember Defoe now, but its just the way of pronouncing it! eh, you won't get it, but if you hear me say Defoe you'll understand (I thought I reckognized his name but keeper?) ah well.

Owen has been pushed too much IMO, like they did with Rooney now, I hope they let him develop his skills, England has an steady team, I hope we'll play against each other in the world cup, like the finals or something! I don't even care too much about who wins, because I know that would be a super-entertaining match that'll have a sharp edge at every second!

and ofcourse whoever wins, its a party here, which wouldn't be the case if germany wins something I have a lot of English friends at my work, I'de prolly party hard with them, they partied with the dutchies too this EC, great folks. (and no the hooligan kind of soccer fans)

Yeah, man. We've been hoping for this for a while haven't we? It's always a great game. I think the last time we played (apart from friendlies) was in 1996 so 2006 has a nice symmetry to it. I can see it now...

*adopts the voice of that deep-voiced guy who does all the trailers for films*

"Holland have waited 10 years for revenge... and now they have the chance. But who will emerge as champions? Out in cinemas July 2006, rated PG13"

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hahaha. '96, man that was the time of generation 'net-niet' which means generation 'just-not'

we had a great team back then, but we never had a good coach, never ever! the only good coach we had was Rinus Michels and we won the EC with in 88. anyways, if there's one legendary coach, its gonna be Van Basten, he's the only one who gets respect from all the players because the man is a living legend along with Cruyff.
It's gonna be difficult to get the new team up and running steady before the WC, but Van Basten seems to do well, we beat the Czechs and we didn't lose any game since he started coaching the team, and that with all the new guys in the team.

the lineup is http://www.voetbalvanoranje.nl/selectie.htm (there it is)

I hope Van Basten gives Sikora and Vennegoor of Hesselink a chance!

Van Basten was awesome as a player. He's starting all over again now though. However, he's served his apprenticeship with the Ajax youth team and has helped produce some of the best young players in Europe so I think he's ready for the step up to international football. I hope he does well, he was a legendary player so I hope he doesn't tarnish that memory with an unsuccessful managerial career.

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Well he's up for a difficult deal, see we have 16 million national coaches here

I don't know if he's ready for this level yet but he seems really confident, more confident than Advocaat ever was. plus nobody will give Van Basten shit, just because of his own career, Van Basten doesnt even tell anyone the lineup for the game, he's tactically strong, its a difficult job though, remember that no-one here WANTS to coach the national team because its prestigious but if something goes wrong the coach allways gets pounded here, thats why I think he was the right choice, the media won't be all over him, people here just wouldn't take that shit either.

aaaaah so the iceman still running good 'ole england?

Hahaha, yeah, he's still here. The FA wouldn't dare sack him - they'd have to pay him off with a compensation package of around £8million. Sven himself would never resign, he'd wait to get the sack and the massive payoff. So it all adds up to Sven staying until the World Cup in 2006 and if we do well probably 2008. I can't see him staying any later than that.

Even if he does get sacked or resigns, there isn't anybody in England who I can see replacing him and doing a better job. Of course, Wenger would be excellent but there's no way he'll leave Arsenal for the England job. Well, it doesn't matter really, Erikson is here to stay for a few more years yet. As long as he changes his tactics to an attacking style, I don't mind him staying. If we keep sitting back once we score, then it becomes a different matter altogether.

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Did anybody see the Roma-Dynamo Kiev game last night? I didn't because I was watching Liverpool beat Monaco 2-0 (hooray!) but I saw the highlights afterwards.

Anyway, for the uninitiated, Roma where losing 1-0 and Phillipe Mexes had been sent off for them. When it came to half time, the referee was struck on the head with a coin thrown by a Roma fan as he was walking down the tunnel. It looked like quite a nasty gash and it turned out to be serious enough for the game to be abandoned due to the referee not being able to guarantee the safety of the players and officials.

This is pretty serious stuff but I'm sure UEFA will make an absolute mess of it as usual. No doubt Roma will receive a fine and that'll be the last we hear of the matter. It's a good job Roma don't play in England otherwise there would be calls for all English clubs to be banned.

I hope I'm wrong about this and UEFA administer a harsh punishment - for years Italian, Spanish and Turkish fans have been getting away with murder (in the case of the Turkish fans, this is true in the literal sense) and going unpunished despite acts of racism and violence. Yet everytime there's the merest hint of booing from English fans Europe is up in arms and there are all sorts of threats flying round about English clubs being banned.

English clubs paid the price after the Heysel disaster and now it's time for Continental clubs to pay the price before the situation gets out of hand. The racism on the terraces, particularly in former Eastern Bloc countries, is abhorrent and it appears that European supporters are 'allowed' to goad and incite English fans as they please without fear of repercussions.

The whole situation has to stop before it gets out of control. Today, a referee gets his head split open, but what of tomorrow? Where will this end up? Another Heysel? The death of a referee or player? UEFA needs to act tough and act tough now. No other course of action will suffice.

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hm yeah, sucky shit the uefa doesn't do jackshit for it... though they allways blame the english, but that makes sense haha. its kinda sad though that a couple of fuckers have to ruine it for the rest.

I saw Ajax / Juve yesterday, Juventus was poor, Ajax was good in the second half but they missed their striker, Ibrahimovic.... sadly, he plays for juventus now.. how ironic. Ajax has a young team, their oldest player is 26, thats Sonck.

ah well, they lost with 1-nill on experience, though they deserved the equalizer, shame they don't have a descent striker, Anastasiou is still not really into the club yet, if he is Ajax is gonna be killer again.

Fc Utrecht and Feyenoord are playing too tonight, and also AZ, which is just a small club which finally made it big, their trainer Fooke de Booij has also been mentioned for the national team, though Van Basten was (ofcourse) the big favorite...

and winning 2-0 against the Czechs was just a small bit of his payback... beware for the dutchies in the upcoming world cup!

I watched Leverkusen : Madrid !
And it was a really great match ! I've newer saw madrid playing so bad before ! and two really nice goals of Leverkusen showed that leverkusen was dominating the whole match !

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just saw AZ-some weirdass greek club (tessaloniki?)

and my hometown club FC Utrecht, they won with 4-0!

Fuck you!
That was my team,PAOK!
We lost 2-3.I heard it on the radio.
I heard fans put some some chairs on fire and fought with
the cops.

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how lame way to ruine a sport huh... but I guess its the same all over the world.

that was AZ, a mediocre dutch club, they're pretty bad lol, though they now have a pretty good trainer, but not really good players, at all.

anyways, well done by them, I didn't expect them to do any good at the european level! good evening, all the dutch teams won, Az, Feyenoord and FC UTRECHT!

Well they were just frustrated with the management and
coach because of all the mistakes they did.
They are not totally right but I understand them(I feel the
same way besides.Good thing I didn't go to the stadium).

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well, what mistakes then? I didn't see much in the game, asides from them not playing really well. (seriously AZ was not good either, but they where both pretty crap in the defence)

Holland, by far has the best team talent out of anyone, even Brazil. Ronaldo can even compare to Van Nistlerooy, Ruud just simply is a far better striker then Ronaldo ever was. Also when your team is sitting their all time leading goal scorer on the bench (Kluivert) you know they have some serious depth. ronaldinho althought a good ball handler is not a real driving force.... Staam would just eat him up...

1) Man U winning Champions League. - just wait till they get healthy
2) Arsenal winning FA and everything else in England
3) I think PSV can take it over Ajax.

fucking right

PSV, well they haven't been doing bad, but they miss Kezman man, they really do. just look at the last couple of games, I mean Vennegoor of Hesselink is the only decent striker they have now!

Ajax is getting better and better, but my club, FC Utrecht has been doing superb this season, beating Ajax for the cup, beating Feyenoord last sunday in their own stadium with 3-nill and beating the swedish champions!!

can't wait for the next holland game, boy is that gonna rule! I'm definetly gonna get tickets for WC2006!!!

Not for that game but because this year was
our first chance to play in Champions League
and when we played with Maccabi Tel Aviv
they used an inegible player and we lost the game 0-3!
Besides that they bought only two players(which
play as substitutes).This time was supposed to our big
break,but now everyone is laughing at us.



John where are you?

Glory Glory Man Utd!

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I almost feel bad for all the dutch clubs because they cannot simply afford all the big time players, and look at how many world class players came through teams like Ajax, PSV fuck i could go on forever.....
I too am getting tickets for WC2006!!!!!!!fuck yea

I'm going into hiding...

Liverpool didn't deserve to win, but I thought we were worth a draw and not for the first time, the referee was man-of-the-match for United. I can't wait til United come to Anfield!

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this is true, we simply can't afford to hold on to the talent we spawn, like John agreed with me earlier one, its pretty sad, but we don't have a big-money competition like england or spain.

Though I must say its heading into the right direction again, Ajax has a decent young team, FC Utrecht is whoopin' everybody's ass with a young team and AZ (for christ's sake!) has gone into europe!

they wont last, believe me

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hell, I never expected them to stay in the honour's-division anyways, how the hell did they get into europe!

must be Co Adriaanse

I really hope that Real Madrid fails completely and has to sell off their team. Honestly coming from a United fan, they are playing burtal football right now. Keep Beckham, he's only losing games for his clubs these days anyways (hahaha england)

United playing brutal football right now? You're fucking joking right? They played their best game for about 6 months when they beat Liverpool on Monday - other than that they've been mediocre for a long time. Even against Liverpool you could tell they only played well because they raised their game due to the North West Derby factor.

United are slipping further behind Arsenal - both in the league table and how they are perceived by other clubs - with each passing game. The only reason that anybody is even considering United for the Champions' League title is because they were handed another piss-easy group by UEFA - they are a big money draw around the world and earn UEFA money.

The Champions' League is rigged. There was a guy last year in England who predicted the entire draw before it was made. Not one group was wrong. He also predicted the quarter-final draw exactly as well. 'Lucky' you might say, but his prediction was based on the premise of the biggest teams left in the competition for the knockout stages being able to make UEFA millions in TV rights. UEFA must have been gutted when Porto and Monaco made the final last year.

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Even when united beat liverpool they were playing very poorly ( Making sloppy plays, long balls that get intercepted, poor crosses.) The only thing United seem to be able to do right now with great ease is anything with set pieces, other then that they are playing well below par espically with perhaps 2 of the 4 best players at euro (V.Nistlerooy, Ronaldo. Rooney and Baroš being the other 2) oh man I can't wait for the big three to start playing *drools*

As usual, Valencia kickin' ass in La Liga, and we don't hear fuck all. Fuck the premier league, actually its pretty good but spanish football is better. Ruben Baraja is the man.

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They play totally different styles I would argue from league to league. The english game is more about possession and control, whereas the spanish game is more about wing play and "dump and chase". Its really hard to argue which style is better, but for me I perfer the controlled pace of the english game better. If you think about it, your chasing the ball down all game in spain, therefore you must get tired quicker and because of this you are more likely to fade later in the game causing mistakes. Sure it might be boring compared to spain but if it wins you more games I'm all for it.

Actually, I think that style makes spanish teams fitter, which is probably why they generally do better in Europe than english teams.

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Well we will see I guess later down the road. Man U won today, Rooney being the hat trick hero.....uhhhh Arsenal who? LOL

Its done by lottery, but if you have a link or something I would really like to see it. I'm not doubting you I just want to read what this guy has written

hah just seen Ajax lose big time, which they totally deserve, Koeman is a cocky bastard. anyways, it was expected since Ajax played shit lately.

ironically it was one of the national team's strikers that scored 3! goals,

Roy 'Das Fantom' Makaay!

Fc Utrecht and Vitesse are doing great. Tomorrow its PSV, I guess they'll do allright with V. Bommel in topshape.. FC Utrecht is really doing great, which is cool, its the club from the town I've been studying in for 3 years (Utrecht), and the town where Blackstar was originally from

GOD DAMMIT I HATE AMERICA. no possible way for me to watch soccer (football, sorry) unless i pay for some $200 subscribtion thing. such bullshit. all i get it the world cup, some of Euro, and copa america (which only comes on the spanish channels). fuck america

Roy Makaay is such an underated player, a personal favourite of mine. The guy has SICK feet. I saw most of the Ajax game on ESPN and it looks like they are missing Ibrahimovic much more then I expected.....that was a spank show.

Do you think PSV is good enough to come out of group E?

yeah, only thing really better at the moment is arsenal, they lost at arsenal's home with 1-0, but I think PSV had the edge in the second half. they might be able to stunt at home.

I'm not too worried about the greeks and rosenburg. but hell, it could go either way, they played pretty damn good against arsenal, but where a bit unlucky. PSV is in way better shape the ajax and feyenoord are now. best playing club now in holland is FC Utrecht, they haven't lost anything recently and whooped feyenoord's ass at home with 3-nill. oh and beating the swedish champions with 4-0 in that eurothingy.

anyways, we'll see. psv might just pull through, but psv is never really good in europe... ajax has a good future but without ibrahimovic they're like a bee without it's sting. they need a decent striker again.

Oh, it wasn't online - it was in national newspaper in a wag's column. However, he didn't reveal where he got the information from.

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Let me stress this. All of the teams in this years champions league are either the best, or close to being the best in their respected leagues. Yes, I do realize that some of these teams are STRONGER then others, but in reality anyone can win on any given day, afterall these are the best teams in europe. As for united having an easy group...uhhh I don't think so, Lyon and Fenerbahçe are both champions in their respected leagues. Yes the Turkish league is weak but nonetheless they are still champions.

Yes, all of the teams are the best in their respective leagues, but can you really say - hand on heart - that the Czech champions are anywhere near as good as the team that finished fourth in Spain or England or Italy?

Have a look at the groups again and tell me that United haven't got the easiest group:

Group A:
Deportivo La Coruna
Liverpool
Monaco
Olympiakos

Group B:
Real Madrid
Roma
Bayer Leverkusen
Dynamo Kiev

Group C:
Bayern Munich
Juventus
Ajax
Maccabi Tel-Aviv

Group D:
Manchester United
Lyon
Sparta Prague
Fenerbahce

Group E:
Arsenal
Panathinaikos
PSV Eindhoven
Rosenborg

Group F:
Barcelona
Milan
Celtic
Shakhtar Donetsk

Group G:
Valencia
Internazionale
Anderlecht
Werder Bremen

Group H:
Porto
Chelsea
Paris Saint Germain
CSKA Moscow

The only other group that gets close in terms of easiness is Arsenal's, all the other groups contain at least two top teams from top leagues.

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well, like I predicted PSV won. but yeah manchester are fucking pricks. lol. only fenerbahce can touch then

Group A, B, and H seem weak to me. Now before you jump all over me for saying group B, Real Madrid is not playing very well at all and are really struggling but they still have Bayer Leverkusen in that group which I guess makes up for it. Any team can win on any given day, so it should be fun to watch.

group H seems interesting to me.

group E isn't that easy, PSV deserved to win @ arsenal, they played a lot better in the second half, arsenal won on quality but PSV won again tonight, so I guess they've got some tricks up their sleeves. Arsenal should get its act together.

Just like Ajax, haha, PSV is leading in the competition and FC Utrecht (jay!) and Vitesse are shared 3/4th. Ajax is going to have its ass whooped soon if they don't get a decent striker up in there to replace ibrahimovic.

B isn't as strong as some of the other groups but group A has got two of last seasons Champions' League semi-finalists (of which one went on to the final). Group H has the richest club in the world and last season's competition winners so I can't see how that is weak. Oh well, as long as Man Utd don't win the CL I don't care!!!

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