2013-14 Club Soccer/Football Discussion Thread

[Tender Branson]

Red Bull Salzburg beat Schalke 04 yesterday 3-1 in a test game.

The best goal was scored by Martin Hinteregger (RBS) - a goal from 60 meters away:

http://www.sky.de/web/cms/de/bundesliga-schalke-verliert-in-salzburg--acht-96tore.jsp

[Tender Branson]

Better video of the 60 meter goal by Hinteregger:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsqVFWoCrM0

[Tender Branson]

Yeah, Mario Götze ...

He recently appeared at a Bayern press conference with a NIKE shirt, despite the fact that the official sponsor of Bayern Munich is ADIDAS ...

Bayern has fined him with 20.000€ now for wearing the shirt at their press conference.

Might be a reason why Pep and the Bayern leadership is not comfortable anymore with Götze playing for them ...

[Tender Branson]

Red Bull Salzburg will play Fenerbahce Istanbul in the 3rd round of the CL-Qualification, according to the draw today.

The 3rd Quali-round will be played in 2 weeks and the away game in 3 weeks.

http://derstandard.at/1373513087394/OeFB-Klubs-erfahren-ihre-europaeischen-Gegner

[Tender Branson]

Bayern just won the Telekom Cup with a 5-1 win over Borussia Mönchengladbach.

In the small final, Dortmund defeated the HSV with 1-0.

[Tender Branson]

Today is the BIG DAY:

The 2013 Uli Hoeneß Cup takes place in Munich between Bayern Munich and FC Barcelona.

The Cup is sold out with 75.000 tickets and it's the first time that Pep Guardiola will meet his former team as Munich coach.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Uli_Hoene%C3%9F_Cup

ZDF will show it live starting at 6pm local time, kick-off is 6:30pm

I say 2-1 Bayern.

[Tender Branson]

Messi will play (or he was at least in the plane to Munich), Neymar is staying home.

[Tender Branson]

After 20 minutes:

1 Bayern, 0 Barcelona

Goal by Philipp Lahm.

[Tender Branson]

Barcelona had 2 very good chances as well already (one of them a 100% chance), but overall Bayern seems technically better.

[Tender Branson]

Almost a Bayern own goal by Rafinha, as he tried to play the ball back to Neuer with his chest.

[Tender Branson]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/jul/26/arsenal-luis-suarez-liverpool

Arsenal preparing another bid for Suarez, due to interest from Real Madrid. Liverpool want £50 million for him though.

Tonight's German Supercup will be the first official Bayern-Dortmund encounter of the new season (live from 20:30 CET on German ZDF, so internet live streaming should be available).

It will be interesting to watch whether Luis Gustavo will be on the ground or at least on the bench (Wolfsburg has now launched an official bid for him). The same applies to Swiss national Xherdan Shaquiri, another frequently named potential Bayern sale.
On the Dortmund side, it will be interesting to watch Robert Lewandowski, whose request for changing to Bayern had been categorically turned down by the Dortmund management ("for no money in the world we will allow any other of out top players to change to Bayern this summer, and its not like we need cash after having to let go Mario Götze"). They seem to have taken the whole Götze thing quite personal - after all, Bayern sports director Matthias Sammer had been team captain when Dortmund won the Champions League in 1997, and Dortmund coach when they became German champion in 2002.  

Thanks for reminding me about that ! I almost forgot about that.



Prediction: Bayern 2, Dortmund 0

PS: The ZDF livestream does not work outside of Germany.

[Tender Branson]

After the stunning Bayern loss to Dortmund on Saturday, now this:

Tax evasion charge for Bayern Munich chief Uli Hoeness

German prosecutors have charged Uli Hoeness, president of European football champions Bayern Munich, with tax evasion after a lengthy inquiry.

Lawyers for Mr Hoeness have one month to respond to the charges before a court in Munich decides whether the case should go to trial.

The former footballer reported himself to the authorities earlier this year over an undeclared Swiss bank account.

Bayern Munich beat Borussia Dortmund to win last season's Champions League.

News of the secret bank account caused a stir in Germany with even Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman saying she was disappointed in the former West Germany international.

Neither he nor officials have disclosed how much money is involved, but German media suggest he deposited millions of euros in a Zurich-based account over 10 years.

He is said to have failed to pay capital gains tax.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23507750

[Tender Branson]

2 important games today/tomorrow:

Today: Austria Vienna vs. Fimleikafélag Hafnarfjarðar (CL qualification, 3rd round)

Tomorrow: Red Bull Salzburg vs. Fenerbahçe Istanbul (CL qualification, 3rd round)

...

The Salzburg game should be interesting, because RB Salzburg is already on top of the Austrian league in the new season 2013-14 after two games, while the Turkish league has not yet started and Fenerbahçe is still in preparations mode. Anyway, because Salzburg is playing relatively well so far this season and a lot of Turkish fans are coming too, the stadium will be sold out for the first time in a very long period. Ca. 35.000 people can be seated in the stadium.

My predictions:

Austria Vienna to win 1-0 today and RB Salzburg to win 2-1 tomorrow.

[Tender Branson]

My predictions:

Austria Vienna to win 1-0 today and RB Salzburg to win 2-1 tomorrow.

And Vienna wins 1-0

http://derstandard.at/1373514001070/Austria-Wien---FH-Hafnarfjoerdur-Di-ab-1830

[Tender Branson]

Well, it's time to beat Fenerbahce Istanbul in the coming hours !

[Tender Branson]

Well, it's time to beat Fenerbahce Istanbul in the coming hours !

That didn't work out well ...

[Tender Branson]

In 2 minutes, the away-game between Austria Vienna and the Iceland-champion of the previous season starts (3rd round of CL qualifiers).

Vienna won the home game 1-0.

[Tender Branson]

Rapid and Austria Vienna both won their games and the Austria advanced to the play-off round for the CL, while Rapid will play in the 4th play-off round for the EL.

Red Bull Salzburg and Pasching are the other 2 teams playing in the 4th play-off round for the EL.

The draws will be today.

[Tender Branson]

Austria Vienna will play against Dinamo Zagreb in the 4th play-off round for the CL.

All pairings for the CL play-off round:

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[Tender Branson]

The draw for the CL Playoff round fixtures is tomorrow. I'm hoping Milan get an easy opponent. We need three Italian teams in the CL this season. Schalke must lose.

It's the PSV.

Congrats, Phil !

[Tender Branson]

The Europa League draw will start in ca. 30 minutes.

Possible opponents for the 3 Austrian teams:

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My preferred opponents are:

* Tromsø for Rapid
* Elfsborg for RB Salzburg
* either Maccabi Haifa or Tottenham for Pasching

[Tender Branson]

Surprisingly "doable" draws for the 3 Austrian EL teams:

* Rapid Vienna vs. FC Dila Gori (from Georgia)
* Red Bull Salzburg vs. VMFD Žalgiris Vilnius (from Lithuania)
* Pasching vs. Estoril Praia (from Portugal)

So, the CL qualifier game between Austria Vienna vs. Dinamo Zagreb might actually be the hardest game of those 4.

[Tender Branson]

Bayern vs. Borussia Mönchengladbach today.

I predict a 2-0 for Bayern.

[Tender Branson]

15 minutes in and Bayern already destroying M'Gladbach in the Bundesliga opening game.

2-0 already.

[Tender Branson]

Ughh ... Bayern own-goal by Dante.

2-1