2013-14 Club Soccer/Football Discussion Thread

[NewYorkExpress]

At 2:45 Eastern Time Aston Villa travels to Cardiff City... Cardiff will be without veteran defender Craig Bellamy for their next three games after being charged with violent conduct following the loss at Swansea.

2:45 ET Hull City is home at Southampton

2:45 ET West Ham is home against Norwich... West Ham is without forward Andy Carroll for this match

3:00 ET Chelsea heads to the Hawthorns, to face West Bromwich Albion... Chelsea will be starting Cesar Azpilluceta/David Luiz over Ashley Cole on defense and Willian over Fernando Torres at Forward.

3:00 ET The Madrid Derby Copa Del Rey Semi-Final Spectacular concludes... Real Madrid has a 3-0 aggregate goal lead.

3:00 ET Udinese travels to Fiorentina to finish their Coppa Italia Semifinal... Udenise has a 2-1 lead in aggregate goals

2:45 ET Broussia Dortmund will face Eintracht Frankfurt in the DFB Pokal.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Oh goddammit.

[Keystone Phil]

Real Madrid on to the Copa del Rey Final. Fiorentina on to the Coppa Italia Final.

The giant Napoli-Roma second leg clash is tomorrow. If all goes right, I'll be rooting against Rossi('s team) in a Final.

Oh and Chelsea only tied West Brom. Hahaha.

[Lief 🗽]

What kind of dumb countries have the semi-finals for their cup competition in February??

[Keystone Phil]

What kind of dumb countries have the semi-finals for their cup competition in February??

While we love the game, some of us don't need four different competitions going on at once.

[Franknburger]

First sensation in the German cup: Leverkusen loses 0:1 after ET at home to second-division Kaiserslautern. Otherwise, matches went as expected:

Frankfurt 0 - Dortmund 1 (yesterday)
Hoffenheim 2 - Wolfsburg 3
Hamburg 0 - Bayern 5 (Bayern with 81% possession, not brilliant, but very effective and with two wonderful Götze solos that Mandzukic finished merciless).

P.S.: The semi-finals have just been drawn:
Bayern - Kaiserslautern and Dortmund - Wolfsburg.

All is set for another Classico ...

[Keystone Phil]

Siamo in Finale! Napoli vs. Giuseppe Rossi

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Well it's a Barca-Real final.

[Lief 🗽]

What a poor, poor performance. Giroud needs to be sold. Wenger screwed up royally not getting a real striker in August or January, and now we're going to be fighting for fourth place by the end of March.

[NewYorkExpress]

Arsenal and Manchester United could only squeak a scoreless a draw... and I'm not sure who performed worse... Tottenham crushed Newcastle United, 4-0 mostly behind a double from Emanuel Adebayor.  Liverpool narrowly escaped against Fulham 3-2, on an injury time penalty from Steven Gerrard. Stoke drew Swansea 1-1.

While Real Sociadad impressed me by holding Barcelona to a 1-1 draw, Barca will advance 3-1 on aggregate to set up El Clasico in the Copa Del Ray Final.

In the Copa Italia, Napoli, shut down Roma 3-0, winning 5-3 on Aggregate, and will face Fiorentina  in the final.

Kaiserlautern defeats Europa League contenders Bayern Leverkusen 1-0 on a 114th minute goal by Norwegian National Rueben Yittergard Jensen. The Calendar year is young, but it looks like this could be a contender for "upset of the year"

Hoffenhiem's furious rally, fell short as they lost to Wolfsburg 3-2.Swiss National Ricardo Rodriguez, bagged a brace for Wolfsburg, While Roberto Firmino bagged a brace for Hoffenhiem.

Bayern Munich crushed Hamburg 5-0, as Croatian National, Mario Mandzukic secured a hat trick in the rout.

Also playing was the Coup de France;

Guingamp defeated small side L'lle-Rousse 2-0. Rennes defeated Auxerre 1-0 on a goal by Algerian national Foued Kadir. In a battle of smaller sides Moulins defeated Sete 3-1, with Sebastian Da Silva bagging a brace. Monaco escaped against Nice 1-0 with a 113th minute goal by Dimtar Berbatov.

In the Netherlands second placed Twente was only able to secure a 1-1 draw with Groningen.

 

[NewYorkExpress]

Yesterday, Lyon was upset in the Coupe de France by Lens 2-1 in Extra Time after late goals by Pierrick Valdiva, and Jean- Phillipe Gbamin.

Today in La Liga, Osasuna will travel to Elche... Osasuna is without Midfielders Miguel De Las Cuevas and Fransisco Punal, due to injury.

AC Milan hosts Bologna... Urby Emmaunelson and Robinho are out for Milan, while Kaka, Keisuke Honda return.

Hannover travels to Coface Arena, to face Mainz.

Top of French Ligue-1  Paris Saint German will be at home against bottom of table Valenciennes... PSG will be without Edison Cavini, Christophe Jallet and Zoumama Camara while Valenciennes, will be without Mody Traore  and Lindsay Rose.

In the Netherlands, Eindhoven will look to remain in the race for a Europa league spot, at home against Heracles Almelo.

In Belgium, Club Brugge will face KV Kortijik at home...

[Keystone Phil]

This Italian Soccer commentator I follow in Twitter has been teasing huge Arsenal-related news for a few days. His podcast is on right now (though I'm not listening). Word is the huge news is that RvP is going back to Arsenal.

[Lief 🗽]

This Italian Soccer commentator I follow in Twitter has been teasing huge Arsenal-related news for a few days. His podcast is on right now (though I'm not listening). Word is the huge news is that RvP is going back to Arsenal.

no thank you

[NewYorkExpress]

Elche and Oasuana battled to a scoreless draw... And all the La Liga fans asked when Real Madrid and Barcelona play next.

AC Milan beat Bologna 1-0, on an 86th minute goal from "super" Mario Balotelli... AC Milan improves to tenth in the Serie A table...

Mainz defeated Hannover 96 2-0.

Paris Saint-German Continued to extend their (slim) lead over the rest of France by defeating Valenciennes 3-0... Zlatan Ibrahmovic scored goal #19 in the victory.

Eindhoven kept their European hopes alive, defeating Heracles Almelo 2-1.

FA Cup Round of sixteen is tomorrow...

Surprising Southampton (just three points behind Man U) heads to the Stadium of Light to face Sunderland. (Hopeully the Thames river will have receded a bit)

Cardiff will face Championship side  (and defending champions)Wigan.

Championship sides Sheffield Wendsday and Charlton will do battle. (No matter what happens tomorrow we will have one Championship League side in the quarterfinals)

And naturally, the two best sides remaining have to face each other, as Chelsea heads to the Eithad Stadium to face Manchester City.

Spain's La Liga, has some semi-compelling , matchups ahead

Athletico Madrid looks to recover from getting KO'ed in the Copa Del Ray, by welcoming Real Valladolid into Vincente Calderon.

Levante hopes to ride momentum from last weeks victory over Athletico Madrid, and defeat Almeria

League Leading Barcelona, is hoping Rayo Vallecano is a Champions League warmup

Villarreal hopes to earn a spot in Europe, and take step doing so by beating Celta Vigo

Serie A has a huge 4/5 match as Fiorentina, will be at home against Inter Milan

In the Bundesliga (Germany), Bayern Munich faces one of the only two clubs that has taken a point off of them, Freiburg   

Borussia Dortmund faces Eintracht Frankfurt.

The German Midtable has a moment in the sun, as Stuttgart heads to Hoffenheim.

The two bottom of the table clubs face-off as Eintracht Braunschwig takes on Hamburg

Borussia Monchengladbach heads to Weserstadion to face Werder Bremen

And 2nd placed Bayer Leverkusen is home against 4th placed Schalke


 

[Keystone Phil]

Chelsea's luck against City has run out.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Back on top of the league, albeit from squishing a joke team at home and only until Barca's 3 points come in later today.

[Franknburger]

Leverkusen continues the downward trend by losing 1:2 at home to Schalke. Bayern (vs. Freiburg) and Dortmund (vs. Frankfurt) both cruised to easy and unchallenged 4:0 victories, Bayern with a B-team (without Mandzukic, Thiago, Alaba, and Boateng, Lahm went out at half-time). Dortmund appears to be back on tracks, presenting beautiful football again.

[NewYorkExpress]

Saturday February 15
Sunderland will move on in the FA Cup defeating Southampton 1-0 on a forty-ninth minute goal from Craig Gardner.  Defending Champions Wigan defeated Cardiff 2-1, and Manchester City defeated Chelsea 2-0. Charlton and Sheffield Wednsday was Postponed.

In La Liga Athetico Madrid scored two goals in the First Four Minutes, and ended up defeating Real Valladolid 3-0. Levante moved up to seventh, by defeating Almeria 1-0 on David Barral goal. Celta Vigo upset Villarreal 2-0. And Barcelona put on a running up the score clinic on Rayo Vallecano with a 6-0 victory as Lionel Messi bagged a brace.

Inter defeated Fiornetina 2-1

Bayern Munich crushed Frieburg 4-0 as Xherdan Shaquri added a pair of goals. Borussia Dortmund was also a 4-0 winner over Eintracht Frankfurt as Pierre Emerick Aubemeyang scored two goals. Hoffenheim won their derby matchup (Baden- Wurttemberg) with Stuttgart 4-1, as Sven Schipplock added a pair of goals. Eintracht Barunschwieg defeated slumping Hamburg, 4-2 as Dominck Kumbela scored a hat trick. Weder Bremen drew Borussia Monchengladenbach 1-1. And Schalke defeated Bayer Leverkusen 2-1

Sunday February 16
6th place Reading moves one step closer to promotion into the Premier league defeating 3rd place QPR 3-1

In FA Cup action, Everton will advance defeating Swansea 3-1, Sheffield United defeated Nottingham Forest 3-1 setting up a hypothetical QF matchup with Sheffield Wednesday (If they beat Charlton of course), and Arsenal exacted revenge against Liverpool with a 2-1 victory.

In Serie A, Catania defeated Lazio 3-1, Parma blasted Atalana 4-0, Livorno defeated Caligari 2-1 to climb out of the drop zone, Genoa and Udiniese batted to a 3-3 draw, Juventus defeated Chievo Verona 3-1, Napoli defeated Sassulo 2-0. Sampadoria heads to Roma at 2:45 ET

In Germany, Nurnberg defeated Augsburg 1-0, and Wolfsburg defeats Hertha Berlin 2-1

[NewYorkExpress]

One FA Cup match today... Hull City travels to ascending Championship side Brighton & Hove Albion. There's also a Johnstone's Paint Trophy match as Peterborough United (League 1) will face Swindon  Town (League One). (The first Leg of this matchup was drawn 2-2)

In La Liga, Real Sociadad, will travel to Estadio La Rosaleda, and face Malaga.

In Serie A action, eighth placed Torino will head to Stadia Marc Antonio Bentegodi, to face seventh positioned Hellas Verona.

In Germany, Cup Sensation (and 4th place in the 2. Bundesliga) Kaiserslautern, will travel ti face Erzgebirge Aue.  (Kasierslautern is one point behind SC Paderborn 07 for 3rd place)

In France, Lens will be at home against Le Harve... (Lens is tied with Dijon for a promotion spot, but trails in Goal Differential 10-6)

In Portugal, Estoril will be at home against Braga.

In Turkey, Konyaspor is at home against Elazigspor, Antaylaspor is at home against Galatasray, and Sivasspor travels to Eskisephirspor

In Greece, OFI Crete travels to Ergotelis...


Champions League Resumes Tomorrow!

[Keystone Phil]

Champions League Resumes Tomorrow!

Yep!

[Keystone Phil]

Remember: we are all rooting against Barcelona today.

[Lief 🗽]

There are very few situations I can think of where we would not all be rooting against Barcelona.

[Franknburger]

So its Bayer 0:4 Leverkusen this time. Not the faintest of a chance against PSG. I already had been wondering before whether Leverkusen wouldn't have been served better by assuming third place in CL group stage in order to continue a few more rounds in the EL. Possibly, the same may apply to Schalke.
Question to the French observers here: PSG not so long ago seemed to have a problem with right-wing fans. Is that still the case?

[Velasco]

Man City 0; Barça 2.

Seriously, I want a Bayern-Atlético de Madrid Final. Bayern is by far the best European team right now and Atlético is very hard to kill. Besides there is the precedent of the 1974 Final at the Heysel Stadium, Brussels. Oh, Atlético is going to play against Milan tomorrow. Hope Simeone's guys will crush them (actually, if they win 0-1 it'd be OK).

[NewYorkExpress]

A lot going on today...

UEFA Champions League;

Paris St. German crushes Bayer Leverkusen 4-0 behind a brace for Zlatan Ibrahimovic... Bayer Leverkusen were outclassed in every category, and to make matters worse will have to head to Paris to try to survive.

Barcelona emerges with a 2-0 victory over Manchester City, with goals from Lionel Messi, and Dani Alves, and possession 68% of the game. The Second Leg will be held in Barcelona.

In England's Championship Division, Derby County defeated Sheffield Wendsday (Still Alive in the FA Cup) 1-0 to move up to 3rd.

Tomorrow features the other two Champions League Matches;
AC Milan vs Athletico Madrid
Arsenal vs Bayern Muncih

There is one English Championship League Match, with leaders Leicester City, traveling to Nottingham Forest.